Business ProfileforIPD Solutions Company

In December 2018 BBB was prompted by a Scam Tracker report to investigate the business practices of IPD Solutions Company (aka IPD Solutions). Consumers advised that they had been contacted the Human Resources Manager of IPD Solutions, Jennifer Sullivan, and offered employment without a formal interview. Once hired, they were directed by Ms. Sullivan to accept an Interac e-transfer, convert the funds into BitCoin, and deposit into another BitCoin account. The consumer did not complete the transaction.

BBB reviewed the Labour Agreement provided to the consumer, which did not correspond with current Canadian employment laws. Additionally, it appears the address provided on the contract, 675 Cochrane Dr East Tower 6th Floor Markham, ON L3R 0B8, belongs to a provincially incorporated computer software company with a similar name- IPD Canada Corporation. A business stamp on the document appeared to be official however; it contained spelling errors, referring to the business as "Image Process Desing".

BBB reached out to the company located at the above mentioned address, IPD Canada Corporation, which operates as IPD Solutions in Troy, Michigan USA. The President of IPD Solutions, Mr. Gary R Kay advised they are aware of the concern, have never employed a Jennifer Sullivan, or recruited in this manner. They have reported the concern to law enforcement.

Based on the information detailed above, BBB suggests consumers be cautious in responding to any employment offers from IPD Solutions.

How Employment Scams work:
- You receive an employment offer without applying for the job. The company may find your resume on job sites like Monster, Indeed, etc.
- If you indicate interest in the job you receive a cheque (which could also be a traveller's cheque) in the mail with instructions. In some cases the company offers to send funds via Interac E-Transfer or Bitcoin.
- You are instructed to deposit or cash the cheque and keep a portion of the funds as your first week's salary.
- Most of the remaining funds are to be used to send a money transfer (BitCoin, E-Transfer, Western Union, etc.) for equipment, rent, office supplies, etc. In some cases, you may be requested to deposit cash directly into another individuals account.
- Eventually the initial payment is found to be fraudulent, and you are held accountable to pay for the funds that were transferred.

By law, banks must make the funds from deposited checks available within days, but uncovering a fake check can take weeks. It may seem that the check has cleared and that the money has posted to the account, but when the check turns out to be a fake, the person who deposited the check and wired the money will be responsible for paying back the bank.

BBB suggests consumers exercise extreme caution when responding to unsolicited mail, email, and text messages with high-paying job offers.
- Reputable companies are not going to offer you a role without interviewing you first. Never, ever accept a job offer that has come through via email, when you have never had a telephonic or face-to-face interview.
- If the company offers you a salary that is completely out of your range, and experience, you are probably in the process of being scammed. Any legitimate employer will evaluate your skill set and experience, before deciding on what you are worth.
- Employers will never send a cheque or payment before work has been performed. If you are instructed to cash a cheque and send the funds elsewhere, it's a scam.

For more information regarding employment scams, please visit: http://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/fraud-escroquerie/job-emploi-eng.htm