Imagine receiving an email from a major brand offering you an amazing working opportunity with a great salary to match. That’s exactly what has been happening to many online marketing professionals and freelance consultants recently, who have received alleged partnerships and job offers from audio giant, Bose.
Unfortunately, those offers are all fake, and the people behind them are scammers. This guide examines how the new Bose job offer scams work and what to watch for.
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How Do Bose Job Scams Work?
The Bose-Global.com job proposal scam seems simple enough, but it includes some clever tricks designed to fool the victim into making the wrong move.
First, the victim will receive an email or a message via a contact form on their website that seems to come directly from Bose itself, using email addresses linked to a domain like bose-global.com, bose-tech.com, bose-inc.com, bose-asia.com, or bose-usa.com.
These seem like official Bose websites at first, and some have been set up to redirect you straight to the real Bose.com brand site, making them seem more legitimate. But they’re all spoof sites, created quite recently by the scammers to use in their schemes.
The message is usually sent from someone called either “Ryan Bond” or “James Martin,” pretending to be either a “Marketing Director” or “Head of Marketing” at Bose. It states that Bond/Martin has reviewed the recipient’s services and would like to offer them a role working with Bond on marketing strategies and campaigns to grow the brand in their region.
There’s nothing malicious in the first email, but if you respond to it and show interest, the scammers send a follow-up containing some “work documents” in a ZIP file. If you download and open that file, there’s a hidden virus inside which could steal your data or take control of your computer.
The reason why this scam may work and ensnare some victims is because a lot of effort has been put into making it look professional, like setting up the spoof sites. The message is also quite convincing and realistic, and the actual “attack” part of the scam only happens in the second message, once the victim has been lulled into a false sense of security.
Red Flags You Shouldn’t Ignore
Messages from Any of the Spoof Domains
The official website for Bose is simply Bose.com. It also has other domains worldwide, like Bose.co.uk, but it doesn’t use domains such as Bose-inc.com or Bose-global.com. Those are spoof sites created by the scammers to appear like the real thing. If you receive an email from someone from one of those domains, it’s almost surely a scam.
“Too Good to Be True” Offers
While it’s not impossible for big brands to sometimes reach out to independent professionals with job offers, it’s not particularly common. If a brand like Bose was looking for a marketing lead or consultant, they’d most likely make a job post, accept applications, and conduct interviews, not simply offer a role to someone online. So, if you get an email with a fancy job or partnership offer, be wary.
Emails with Unknown Attachments
As mentioned above, the big trick of this scam comes in the attachments with the second email. They contain a virus that can infect your device just by opening the ZIP file. Be very cautious if someone you don’t know – even someone claiming to be a trusted brand or professional – sends you a bunch of files in an email.
How to Stay Safe from Bose Proposal Scams
- Don’t download or open any files from email senders you don’t know
- Double-check the domains that emails have been sent from
- Avoid sharing any personal info with senders you don’t know
- Avoid clicking any suspicious links in emails from unknown senders
Report the Scam
You can report suspected job offer scammers as follows:
- Report to the FTC.
- Report to the FBI Internet Complaints Center.
How to Protect Yourself More
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Read up about other job scams to see other ways scammers can fool you with spoof job offers and messages.
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When my sweet old grandmother got caught up in an Amazon gift card scam, I decided then and there that I needed to do whatever I could to inform as many people as possible about the grifters of the world. That’s what I do here – writing about modern scams so you don’t get caught out.
It’s unfortunate how sophisticated these scams have become, especially with brands like Bose being targeted. As an online marketer, I’ve seen how easy it can be to fall for these types of tricks, especially when they mimic legitimate companies. It’s a reminder that we need to stay vigilant, just like in Casinolucky7even—don’t take everything at face value, always double-check the details. Be cautious when opening attachments or clicking on links, even if the offer seems too good to pass up!