Roomba without a Butt

So my dad calls me and tells me of this new job offer he received and asking me if it was legit. My first response was if you had to ask me, it’s probably not legit. He goes on and faxes me the documents and I’m almost 100% sure it’s fake, but I do my research anyway, just for my dad.

A couple things that were good hints on the scam was:

• Variable salary given in the form of weekly instead of montly or annually ($900-2500 per week)
• Work at home
• Bank was located in Latvia

I had no idea even where Latvia is.

Anyway, there were a couple email addresses scattered throughout the email/application:
manager@open-financial-ltd.info
manager@international-escrow.info
nicos@open-financial-ltd.com

A quick whois on the 2 domains result in:

Domain ID:D14053311-LRMS
Domain Name:OPEN-FINANCIAL-LTD.INFO
Created On:12-Jul-2006 05:05:10 UTC
Last Updated On:10-Sep-2006 20:32:15 UTC
Expiration Date:12-Jul-2007 05:05:10 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:eNom 401, Inc. (R146-LRMS)
Status:OK
Registrant ID:RM13765-BR
Registrant Name:Rustam Mindubaev
Registrant Organization:Mindubaev Rustam
Registrant Street1:Chetaeva, 28, 11
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Kazan
Registrant State/Province:RU
Registrant Postal Code:614566
Registrant Country:RU
Registrant Phone:+79.29051839905
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:nicos@open-financial-ltd.com
Admin ID:RM13765-BR
Admin Name:Rustam Mindubaev
Admin Organization:Mindubaev Rustam
Admin Street1:Chetaeva, 28, 11
Admin Street2:
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Kazan
Admin State/Province:RU
Admin Postal Code:614566
Admin Country:RU
Admin Phone:+79.29051839905
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:nicos@open-financial-ltd.com
Billing ID:C4647264-LRMS
Billing Name:Eugene Magdesiev
Billing Organization:JSL Technologies
Billing Street1:Dubosekovskaya st. 5/6, office 350
Billing Street2:
Billing Street3:
Billing City:Moscow
Billing State/Province:Moscow
Billing Postal Code:125080
Billing Country:RU
Billing Phone:+7.0957300183
Billing Phone Ext.:
Billing FAX:
Billing FAX Ext.:
Billing Email:info@webrider.ru
Tech ID:C4647264-LRMS
Tech Name:Eugene Magdesiev
Tech Organization:JSL Technologies
Tech Street1:Dubosekovskaya st. 5/6, office 350
Tech Street2:
Tech Street3:
Tech City:Moscow
Tech State/Province:Moscow
Tech Postal Code:125080
Tech Country:RU
Tech Phone:+7.0957300183
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:info@webrider.ru
Name Server:NS1.JINO.RU
Name Server:NS2.JINO.RU

---

Domain ID:D10189040-LRMS
Domain Name:INTERNATIONAL-ESCROW.INFO
Created On:07-May-2005 18:11:24 UTC
Last Updated On:16-Apr-2006 23:18:58 UTC
Expiration Date:07-May-2007 18:11:24 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Go Daddy Software Inc (R171-LRMS)
Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:C9876238-LRMS
Registrant Name:Dexter Martindale
Registrant Organization:Drawbridge
Registrant Street1:PO Box 1222
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Wailuku
Registrant State/Province:Hawaii
Registrant Postal Code:96793-6222
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.8082680699
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:dm@drawbridge.us
Admin ID:C9876240-LRMS
Admin Name:Dexter Martindale
Admin Organization:Drawbridge
Admin Street1:PO Box 1222
Admin Street2:
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Wailuku
Admin State/Province:Hawaii
Admin Postal Code:96793-6222
Admin Country:US
Admin Phone:+1.8082680699
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:dm@drawbridge.us
Billing ID:C9876241-LRMS
Billing Name:Dexter Martindale
Billing Organization:Drawbridge
Billing Street1:PO Box 1222
Billing Street2:
Billing Street3:
Billing City:Wailuku
Billing State/Province:Hawaii
Billing Postal Code:96793-6222
Billing Country:US
Billing Phone:+1.8082680699
Billing Phone Ext.:
Billing FAX:
Billing FAX Ext.:
Billing Email:dm@drawbridge.us
Tech ID:C9876239-LRMS
Tech Name:Dexter Martindale
Tech Organization:Drawbridge
Tech Street1:PO Box 1222
Tech Street2:
Tech Street3:
Tech City:Wailuku
Tech State/Province:Hawaii
Tech Postal Code:96793-6222
Tech Country:US
Tech Phone:+1.8082680699
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:dm@drawbridge.us
Name Server:PARK3.SECURESERVER.NET
Name Server:PARK4.SECURESERVER.NET

---

Domain Name: OPEN-FINANCIAL-LTD.COM
Registrar: BULKREGISTER, LLC.
Whois Server: whois.bulkregister.com
Referral URL: http://www.bulkregister.com
Name Server: NS2.JINO.RU
Name Server: NS1.JINO.RU
Status: ACTIVE
EPP Status: ok
Updated Date: 22-Jun-2006
Creation Date: 22-Jun-2006
Expiration Date: 22-Jun-2007

>>> Last update of whois database: Fri, 15 Sep 2006 10:03:32 EDT < <<

Mindubaev Rustam
Gogolja, 65, 2
Kazan\\’, RU 420111
RU

Domain Name: OPEN-FINANCIAL-LTD.COM

Administrative Contact:
Rustam Mindubaev admin@rehabilitation-center.net
Mindubaev Rustam
Gogolja, 65, 2
Kazan\’, RU 420111
RU
Phone: +79.29051839905
Fax: +.
Technical Contact:
Eugene Magdesiev info@jino.ru
JSL Technologies
Dubosekovskaya st. 5/6, office 350
Moscow, Moscow 125080
RU
Phone: +7 495 7300183
Fax:
Billing Contact:
Eugene Magdesiev info@jino.ru
JSL Technologies
Dubosekovskaya st. 5/6, office 350
Moscow, Moscow 125080
RU
Phone: +7 495 7300183
Fax:

Record updated on 2006-06-22 20:32:46
Record created on 2006-06-22
Record expires on 2007-06-22
Database last updated on 2006-09-15 19:36:05 EST

Domain servers in listed order:

NS1.JINO.RU
NS2.JINO.RU

TransferGuard LOCK Status => ENABLED

http://www.open-financial-ltd.com/ and http://www.open-financial-ltd.info/ both point to a bank like page which only purpose is to offer jobs.

What’s worse is that http://www.international-escrow.info/ is just a random page holder by GoDaddy.

Anyway, I call back and tell him this is indeed a fake, a scam and he actually questions my judgement! He goes from what he read on that website, this was a legit bank in Latvia which is a branch under some Switzerland bank. I ask him where he read it and he tells off their website. I’m like OH MY GOD! Sigh… He then questions what reason would there be for someone to randomly offer jobs. I go, identity theft and then everything clicked for him.

What’s interesting about this scam is it appears they found his information on Monster.com.

Why the title? Well, when I was talking to my dad on the phone, my Roomba Scheduler got activated and when it came to my area, it noticed it’s butt (container) was missing, so it was zooming along sucking up dust and just shooting it straight back out where it’s butt is suppose to be. Apparently, the last time I emptied its butt, I must’ve not snapped it back in correctly and it hit something along the way and his butt was just lying in the middle of my dining room.