Published Thursday, March 13, 2003
seized
a job scam
| Attorney General seeking information The state Attorney General's Office asks anyone who filled out a job application with the company calling itself American Air Filtration to contact the office and file a complaint. The office can be reached at (800) 441-2555 or (814) 871-4371. Complaints also can be filed online at: www.attorneygeneral.gov |
Herald Business Editor
Events surrounding a company involved in what was described as a massive bait-and-switch operation for jobs in northwestern Pennsylvania snowballed as company records were seized by the state Attorney General's Office late Wednesday afternoon.
A subpoena was served at the Erie office at a company calling itself American Air Filtration.
"We're confiscating any (job) applications, any lists or other documentation that contains any citizen information,'' said Darrel Vandeveld, deputy attorney general in charge of the Erie Regional Office.'' He called the operation a "fairly involved scam.''
Describing the probe as a consumer fraud investigation, Vandeveld said company owner John Tobias was cooperating with investigators. No arrest warrant had been issued for Tobias, a Cambridge Springs resident, or anyone connected with the company, Vandeveld added.
A person familiar with the investigation said Tobias is well known to law enforcement officials and that he was on probation in Erie County for theft-related offenses.
Information had no listing for American Air Filtration in Erie or a listing of John Tobias in Cambridge Springs.
Over the last two days Vandeveld said his office has been inundated from people who had filled out job applications. He described many callers as being "scared out of their minds'' that they had given personal information to the company, such as their Social Security numbers. People said they were afraid that the personal information could somehow be used to tap their financial resources, he said.
"We want to make sure the information people submitted gets back to them'' Vandeveld said.
Caller after caller has told the office that the company lured unsuspecting job-seekers into applying for manufacturing jobs that didn't exist. Instead, applicants later discovered the jobs were door-to-door sales for vacuum cleaners and an air filter.