Merck & Co.

Victim Location 42701

Type of a scam Employment

I am currently looking for a full time job; I was contacted via email with a job interview for Merck & Co, work from home position. The talent recruiter, Michael Bataglio, had found my resume on Glassdoor. He emailed me an extensive job description which offered $24 hour an hour and a set up for a home office.

An intensive online interview was scheduled AIM (AOL instant messenger), and took over 2 hours to complete all questions. I was also asked to send address verification via copy of utility or mortgage statement, I sent a copy of my Windstream phone bill with the account numbers blackened out – no other personal information or bank information has been sent. On July 8, I received an offer of employment, which I signed and returned to the recruiter.

On July 11, recruiter scheduled a pre-training, which consisted of several more questions and the task of writing a 500 word document on various accounting methods. After the pre-training was approved, I was told I would receive a $50 bonus for completing the pre-training and that a check would arrive either by USPS or FedEx in the next 3-5 business days. There would also be money included for set-up equipment for the home office. I was instructed to contact the recruiter as soon as I received the package.

On Saturday, July 16, I received a Priority Mail envelope with a cashier’s check for $2450.90. The envelope was mailed from Kingwood, TX, cashier’s check from First Community Check from St. Louis, MO. There was also a very vague (and poorly written) letter from another gentleman with a gmail.com account saying he was with the "company’s payment department". He also stated "DO NOT SHED OR DESTROY THIS NOTE IF YOU’RE TOLD TO DO SO". I emailed the recruiter to state I had received the check but needed further instructions. He immediately responded and told me to log in to AOL for my next tasks. There he instructed me to deposit the check through an ATM immediately. I questioned him about whether it could be taken to the bank on Monday; he stated it needed to go directly to an ATM. I stated I was not available to do so and that it might be the next day.

Obviously, this was not making sense, so I started my own research into this and found that this type of work scam has been done previously. I had previously checked the recruiter’s profile on Linkedin, and it looks very legit and lists all of his work with recruitment and Merck.

I called Merck & Co. in NJ on July 18, spoke with HR representative Jocelyn. She stated there were several of these cases being investigated and gave me a case number. She asked me to send copies of all materials and correspondence to their investigators. I then logged back on to AOL to speak to the recruiter, under the pretense of acting like I was having problems depositing the check. He was very vague in his answers and then became defensive as I continued, and then dropped offline to end the conversation with me.

Thankfully, I did not give personal information to "recruiter" or deposit the check, which I’m sure would have then had financial repercussions. I have attached the welcome letter which appears to be a standard hiring document. I have other correspondence including copies of AOL conversations if it is needed to build the case against this recruiter and the scam he is working.