Since: Thursday, August 19, 2010

Post Title: Administrator Position at Law Firm

Location: atlanta

States affected: GA - georgia    

Notes:
Fraudulent Craigslist Job Site Targets Law Firm
Alpharetta Woman Exposes Fraudulent Site
By Mike Paluska, CBS Atlanta Reporter

POSTED: 9:37 pm EDT August 16, 2010
UPDATED: 10:00 pm EDT August 16, 2010

ALPHARETTA, Ga. -- Tabatha James just graduated as a paralegal and was ready to start a new career working at a law firm in Atlanta. But when James went on Craigslist to search for jobs, she got more than she bargained for.

"They were asking for my credit card information," James said after receiving an E-mail response from the prospective employer. "So I thought this doesn't seem like this is right. So I went to their website and that's when I realized there was something fraudulent about it."

James went to the website www.rubensteinllp.com; it was there she saw a picture of a man named Doug Rubenstein. She said she doesn't know why but she right-clicked the man's picture and saw the picture she was looking at was stolen from a legitimate law firm in Oklahoma, personal injury lawyer Ed Abel.

A lawyer at the firm told CBS Atlanta News the company didn't just steal Abel's picture for its fraudulent website.

"Not only are they representing our legal services, they are representing our results, too, which is pretty significant. We are talking, you know, multiple millions of dollars dollars, which we have attained for clients," lawyer Nick Larby said.

The law firm is actively working to get the website removed, but as of Monday night, the ad was still posted on Craigslist.

"I am shocked that for the legal industry somebody would do something like this," James said.

She wants people to be aware that scams are everywhere and to make sure certain things on job postings are clear, such as a contact number, e-mail and address for the business. In this case, all of that information on the Craigslist ad was missing.

"I have a lot of classmates that were as excited as I was to start work, and I don't want anyone to fall prey to this," James said.

Report to the FTC at https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/