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Craigslist Job Scam? Legitimate?

This job is asking for a credit report which I think is weird. Do you think this is a job scam? Should I do the credit report? The reply to my Craigslist response to them is as follows: "Congratulations! You are being being offered a position as a warehouse worker with Kelly Staffing Services, Inc. As described in the job posting, this position pays a very aggressive starting hourly wage, plus a full benefit package, as well as opportunity to earn periodical pay increases and advancement opportunities. At this time, we are staffing very aggressively, and are prepared to make you a firm employment offer, assuming you comply with the final recruiting conditions. This is a full-time (40 hours per week) position. Depending on your past experience, you will be working either inside the warehouse in shipping & receiving, outside on the loading team, or both indoors and outdoors, operating a forklift. The positions mentioned vary in pay, as well as physical demands. Each employee's starting hourly wage will be based on his or her experience level, which will be determined once the recruiting process has been completed. Experience working in a warehouse setting is helpful, but not required, as paid training is provided. To move on to the final step in the hiring process, you will need to provide us with a current copy of your credit report to go in your employment file. Kelly Staffing Services, Inc. has a zero-tolerance policy in regards to theft of company property. Your credit scores and payment history are not important to us; rather the report serves as a means of verifying your identity and will serve as your acceptance of the position. Once you request the report, an email is generated that notifies us of your acceptance. Upon receiving notification that you have completed the report, we mail your new hire paperwork along with times for your orientation. Please be sure to bring 2 forms of identification with you to the orientation. Use this link to access your report: http://clear-reports.org/reporting.php This tentative offer of employment will expire in three (3) business days past the date sent. If you have any questions, please contact me directly. We appreciate your interest in joining the team at Kelly Staffing Services, Inc., and hope you decide to come aboard!"

Public Comments

1. SCAM - and that is NOT from Kelly Read Craiglist's own scam warnings - the last bullet point. It's such a common scam when looking for jobs on Craigslist http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams "DO NOT SUBMIT TO CREDIT CHECKS OR BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR A JOB OR FOR HOUSING UNTIL YOU HAVE MET THE INTERVIEWER OR LANDLORD/AGENT IN PERSON." And read the FTC's warning about these fake credit report sites http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt130.shtm "You may have seen Web sites or received unsolicited email offering credit reports, sometimes for free. Be aware that some of these online operators may not actually provide credit reports, but may be using these sites as a way to capture your personal information. From there, they may sell your information to others who may use it commit fraud, including identity theft. This is a variation on "phishing," also called "carding," a high-tech scam that uses spam or fraudulent Web sites to deceive consumers into disclosing their credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security numbers, passwords, and other sensitive information." A call to the REAL Kelly will confirm they will NEVER ask you to do this http://www.kellyservices.us/web/us/services/en/pages/index.html Want more proof this is a scam, write back to say that you will BRING a TransUnion credit report with you to the interview. If they don't agree, it's a scam. There are criminals setting up fake credit reporting sites ONLY to steal your identity. If you submit to this, you'll never hear anything about a job again, then 6 months from now when you try to get a car loan or mortgage you can't because someone has taken out 10 loans in your name already without your permission Employers don't ask for credit reports before they meet you - if one if required for the job they will run one AFTER they have interviewed you and want to offer you a job. Or they would ask you to bring in a report from one of the 3 credit bureaus - TransUnion, Equifax or Experian. They wouldn't ask you to go to some random website that is not one of the three credit bureaus
2. Are you kidding? Seriously, don't trust ANYTHING that comes from, Craig's List! Let me give you a brief story: I won't mention my company's name, but someone was using our logo to post jobs and when they clicked on the link, it took them to a phising site! How I found out was someone called me and told me they applied through craigslist. In fact, that week I got two more calls. So I told my boss and he called the head-HR director about it. My point is maybe you should call your local Kelly Staffing Services directly. If you do not have a Kelly office, then call their corporate office and ask them if they have posted anything on the website. I know Kelly Services and it's likely they would not post there. They would post on something like Careerbuilder or Snag-a-Job. Do NOT click that credit report link -- it may be a scam as well. Most companies that do a credit check do it themselves or do it with a third-party group, but they will never ask you to do one on yourself. I also want to mention the thing in the ad about forklift operations: In most states, you need to be certified and licensed to operate a forklift. So, this whole thing sounds fishy. Stay away from it if you can.
3. Im a workforce specialist in my state and we were told recently to discourage EVERYONE from applying for any job listed on craigslist. You should NEVER give your credit report to anyone. Some companies may run a credit check on you but you have to sign a permission form to do so and I'd never allow it unless I had met with the company and knew they were legit. Hope this helps.
4. You can trace almost any scam at http://scampond.com, just search with the company name, person or website.
5. 100% scam. There is no job. There is only a scammer trying to get you to sign up for some credit reporting site using the affiliate link he provided. He only wanted the commission he would receive for getting people to sign up under him. He did not send a virus or trojan or anything like that. After you had signed up for the credit site using the affiliate link, the next email from that scammer would have said something like: "sorry, the job is filled". Now that you have responded to a scammer, you are on his 'potential sucker' list, he will try again to separate you from your cash. He will send you more emails from his other free email addresses using another of his fake names with all kinds of stories of great jobs, lottery winnings, millions in the bank and desperate, lonely, sexy singles. He will sell you email address to all his scamming buddies who will also send you dozens of fake emails all with the exact same goal, you sending them your cash via Western Union or signing up at a site using the given affiliate link. You could post up the email address and the emails themselves that the scammer is using, it will help make your post more googlable for other suspicious potential victims to find when looking for information. Do you know how to check the header of a received email? If not, you could google for information. Being able to read the header to determine the geographic location an email originated from will help you weed out the most obvious scams and scammers. Then delete and block that scammer. Don't bother to tell him that you know he is a scammer, it isn't worth your effort. He has one job in life, convincing victims to send him their hard-earned cash. Whenever suspicious or just plain curious, google everything, website addresses, names used, companies mentioned, phone numbers given, all email addresses, even sentences from the emails as you might be unpleasantly surprised at what you find already posted online. You can also post/ask here and every scam-warner-anti-fraud-busting site you can find before taking a chance and losing money to a scammer. 6 "Rules to follow" to avoid most fake jobs: 1) Job asks to use your personal bank account and/or open a new one. 2) Job asks you to print/mail/cash a check or money order. 3) Job asks you to use Western Union or moneygram in any capacity. 4) Job asks you to accept packages and re-ship them on to anyone. 5) Job asks you to pay for visas, travel fees via Western Union or moneygram. 6) Job asks you to sign up for a credit reporting or identity verification site. Avoiding all jobs that mention any of the above listed 'red flags' and you will miss nearly all fake jobs. Only scammers ask you to do any of the above. No. Exceptions. Ever. For any reason.