Alert: Fraudulent employment letter scam

We’ve recently learned of a phishing scam offering freelance employment from GiveDirectly. Individuals are frequently contacted by “Michael Faye” via LinkedIn, job listings sites (ZipRecruiter, CareerBuilder, Indeed) or direct email (typically from a Gmail or Microsoft account).

The GiveDirectly team:

  • Never offers employment via cold letter or email 
  • Only sends email from addresses that end in “@givedirectly.org”  
  • Requires all job seekers apply through our hiring portal.

Example: Fraudulent letter

Below is an example of the scam letter. If you have received this or similar outreach, please email [email protected] to report the incident.

—

May 13th, 2020

FREELANCE EMPLOYMENT VERIFICATION LETTER

This letter is to certify your income and employment.. You have been fully employed by GiveDirectly in association with Microsoft foundation for the COVID-19 Relief Funding Program as a Virtual Assistant handling Material and Fund distribution remotely as well as Data Entry. This employment commences Today May 13th, 2020.

GiveDirectly located on Church Street Station P.O. Box 3221. New York, NY 10008 is running this employment program  as an initiative to help the un-employed rate while attending to disbursing the funds given by our donor to relief the problems families and businesses are facing due to COVID19. The employment will run from the said date above until January 1st, 2021, there after employee can apply to become a full time staff with benefits working from our newly setup office center within 50 mile of your zipcode. 

Your payroll will be $1000 (Weekly) Payable via Check/Money Order. Working Hours 6 Hours daily. 

This document is a (Proof of Income) supporting document to verify that the said name above is working with GiveDirectly as a freelance virtual assistant, with the primary aim of helping to reach out to affected people through us. There are NO taxes, NO benefits, No 401k and NO Insurance for this Work from Home Position. All of the information provided above and shared are well documented to our service at www.givedirectly.org. It is strictly $1000/Weekly (Monday – Friday). If you have any questions regarding the information provided on the provisional employment letter, please do not hesitate to contact: 

[Fake contact info of scammer]