Classic Craiglist Money Order Scam in the wild

Story of a girl who got a job and then a simple request by her new "boss".

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My friend accepted a job as a 'personal assistant' she found on CL. So far her boss, who says he is out of the country in Ireland, has sent her two Western Union money orders for $950 each, and her job was to put the money orders in the bank, take out a $300 for her trouble and then send the rest to some other person. (The last one was in Dubai)

This seems incredibly fishy. Is there a reason she shouldn't be doing this? She knows literally nothing about the guy other than his email address, phone number and first name.

UPDATE: She didn't seem to think it was as big of a deal as I do. I think she's embarrassed and doesn't want to admit it. She has a savings account with money in it from modeling or something when she was a kid, so she said if it turns out it was a scam (and not money laundering like she thought at first), she'll just have to pay the money back and be out $1700.

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This is why CraigsList has this statement at the bottom of the page

* DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON - follow this one simple rule and you will avoid 99% of the scam attempts on craigslist.
* NEVER WIRE FUNDS VIA WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM or any other wire service - anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer.
* FAKE CASHIER CHECKS & MONEY ORDERS ARE COMMON, and BANKS WILL CASH THEM AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE when the fake is discovered weeks later.
* CRAIGSLIST IS NOT INVOLVED IN ANY TRANSACTION, and does not handle payments, guarantee transactions, provide escrow services, or offer "buyer protection" or "seller certification"
* NEVER GIVE OUT FINANCIAL INFORMATION (bank account number, social security number, eBay/PayPal info, etc.)
* AVOID DEALS INVOLVING SHIPPING OR ESCROW SERVICES and know that ONLY A SCAMMER WILL "GUARANTEE" YOUR TRANSACTION.

The Secret Stash Project


yiting cheng does a decent job of showing you how to hide stuff in plain sight.