In recent weeks, the BBB Wise Giving Alliance has received inquiries about charity employment offers that appear to be a type of "payment-forwarding" job scam. In the past year, this type of con has appeared on the Internet in other forms such as lottery scams and phony Internet purchasing schemes.

In this recent scenario, however, the con artist pretends to be a charitable organization located overseas. He uses a job advertisement or information from a resume posted online to locate potential victims. He gains the victim's trust in a number of ways, including, but not limited to: stating that the resume shows that he/she has the right skills for this opportunity; providing a link to an official-looking charity Web site; claiming that well-known people or institutions have been involved with the organization; promising that the employee will receive tax documents at the end of the year (e.g. IRS Form 1099); and providing a formal contract for the services being requested.

The employment offer involves depositing "regional donation" checks into an individual's (the employee’s) personal bank account. The “employee” is then asked to forward or wire transfer most of this amount to the overseas charitable organization, and to keep a small portion as an administrative fee for this service. The rationale used is that this enables the overseas charity to obtain quick access to these U.S. gifts so they can put it to immediate charitable use. However, the deposited checks turn out to be counterfeit and the “employee” loses the money he/she forwarded from his/her own bank account as well as any money they have withdrawn against the amount of the original check.

In addition, if the con artist gains access to personal information (e.g., Social Security number, driver's license, or bank account numbers), under the ruse of an employment security check or for tax purposes, the individual who is victimized could also be the subject of identify theft.

If you are considering a donation processing job offer, you should:

• Avoid all employment offers that require you to accept checks for deposit in your personal account and then forward payments to an overseas organization.

• Never divulge personal information on the Internet until you have checked out the potential charity employer. Unfortunately, con artists will use an identity that is difficult to verify, such as an overseas charity. If you are unable to find out more information about the charity employer from reliable sources, walk away.

• If the organization claims to be a U.S.-based charity, ask it for a copy of its IRS Form 990, the financial report filed with federal and state governments. You also can check out the organization by contacting your state government's charity registration office (usually a division of the state's attorney general's office), visiting www.give.org (if a national charity), or if it is a local charity, visiting www.bbb.org to contact the Better Business Bureau in your area.

• Don't assume the charity is legitimate because of an impressive looking Web site that mentions well known personalities and/or official contacts.

• Watch out for "red flags" in the job application process such as requests for your mother's maiden name or your date of birth. These are not legitimate requests and the information obtained can be used to commit identify theft.

If you believe you have been victimized by a donation processing job scam, here are some links that can provide assistance: FBI (www.fbi.gov); the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) (www.ftc.gov), and your state's office of the attorney general. For assistance with Identify Theft issues, click here: http://www.bbbonline.org/IDtheft/