Sophisticated work from home scam uncovered

Image 1 of 5

It’s a work from home job offer that could land you in jail. Luckily, a Brandon man realized something was wrong with the job he was hoping was a good way to make money.

Alvin Berkhall says when he posted his resume on job search sites, he got an offer form a company called Alliance 2000, which that offered $2,000 a month to open packages, log the contents, and reship them.

Berkhall showed FOX 13 an array of the goods he was sent, and then tasked with sending to other locations.

“Brand new shoes, exercising mat, this is a Bluetooth helmet,” he said, describing the items.

But when his paycheck never came, he said Alliance 2000 representatives stopped answering his calls. FOX 13 News called and the man who answered agreed to have the conversation recorded.

He said his name was Steve Gunn and he had to hire people to reship boxes to global clients because many online venders don’t want to pay to ship overseas. But the actual shipping labels tell a different story, showing most packages heading to New York or New Jersey from Brandon, where Berkhall lives.

When Gunn was asked why he never paid Berkhall, he hung up. FOX 13 News called back, but was sent straight to a recorded message saying the user was not available.

The Better Business Bureau's Scam Tracker found another complaint against this same company out of Tennessee. BBB also found out the Alliance 2000 website was registered to a company in China. 

BBB pointed out, according to the US Postal Service, there is no reshipping job available that is legitimate.

There are also photos on the Alliance 2000 website of supposed company CEOs, but a quick Google Images search reveals the photos were taken from other websites. 

FOX 13 News contacted one of the men whose photo appeared on the Alliance 2000 website. He said he has nothing to do with Alliance 2000 and he was shocked to see his photo there. 

Berkhall says after learning all this, his next call is to police.