Customer & Vendor Alert: Someone Is Running a Scam and They’re Using the Tomedes Name

*July 7, 2022 Update*

In the latest update on the fraudulent activities, one of the victims reached out to us and said the fraudsters used Ziprecruiter to contact them and offer a job as a US/UK content writer. Another victim reported that they used Telegram to recruit them as a full-stack developer.

The fraudulent groups were noted to use Gmail, Telegram, Freelancer.com, and Ziprecruiter to source vendors and conduct business on behalf of Tomedes. We listed some of the imposter accounts used by these fraudsters:

  1. Telegram(@OferTirosh_privateinbox)

  2. Gmail (info.tomedes@my.com)

  3. Gmail (tomedestranslatinginccompany@gmail.com)

  4. hr@tomedesapplywithin.com

  5. galina@tomedesapplywithin.com

If you want to work with us at Tomedes, our official email accounts for recruitment are vendor@tomedes.com and hr@tomedes.com. Any other email accounts fall under suspicious activities and are not authorized by Tomedes to do any business and recruitment transactions. Please report them immediately if you encounter any unofficial Tomedes accounts. 

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There’s a lot of online scams going on right now. Unfortunately, we at Tomedes are alerting you to be aware of groups running a fraudulent scheme using the company’s name—this is not us. 

The fraudulent activities came to our attention after a few vendors and service providers left negative reviews about the company, complaining that they were not paid for the services they have rendered. Some vendors also reached out to us, through our social media accounts to ask for overdue payments. There are also those who have sent us invoices without having any prior communication with them. 

All of these suspicious activities raised an alarm within the company, prompting us to perform an investigation. After gathering information from the individuals who have reached out to us, we managed to figure out how they are running their scam:

1. These individuals or groups post on platforms like Upwork, asking people to perform jobs/tasks such as typing jobs on behalf of Tomedes. 

2. They use unauthorized email addresses and unauthorized chat app accounts for communication.

3. Once a vendor agrees to perform tasks, they will be given assignments by the scammer.

4. Upon completion of the task, the scammers will then make excuses for delaying the payment.

5. The scammers then will cut off communication with the vendors that they have victimized.

What is even more alarming is that after claiming unforeseen problems are causing delays in payment, the scammers will then try to get personal details like credit card information from their victims claiming that is the only way for their payment to push through.

To avoid being victimized by scammers like these, here are a few warning signs that should make you suspicious:

1. Employers not using company email addresses and sticking to free email addresses like gmail.com or hotmail.com particularly ops.tomedes2016@gmail.com. Only Tomedes affiliated email addresses such as tomedes.com, or tomedes.net are real Tomedes accounts.

2. Employers using unauthorized apps such as Telegram to discuss professional work throughout the transaction.

3. Unclear instructions and guidelines on how one will get paid.

4. Not asking vendors to go through official hiring platforms on the website.

To our vendors and customers, for whom we take particular care, make sure you are not victimized by these deceitful individuals or groups—we at Tomedes would never do that to you.