We have received a number of complaints regarding employment with a Melbourne based leaflet distribution company.
Many backpackers who completed work for this employer all report not being paid and not getting any response from the employer.
These ads have been removed from the site and the employer accounts have been blocked.
We have tried to contact the employer via the email addresses provided and asked to comment. We’ve also contact Carter’s Home Improvements, who are promoted on the flyers, and asked them for a comment. Should we receive a response, the comments will be shared here.
In the meantime, we ask all applicants to be cautious of any similar possible scam employment.
Details of the employer
Job Title: Distribution
Company name: Luke Gibson
“Hi we are a Melbourne distribution company working in all Melbourne suburbs we are looking for reliable friendly hard-working clients Who are willing to work five days a week minimum of five hours per day We pay $22.50 per hour”
Company name: Mike’s Distributor (Mike Wall)
“We reliable trustworthy person to distribute flyer/leaflets
In Melbourne suburbs full and part-time placements available $25 per hour six days and week
Please no time wasters contact mike”
Job Title: walkers wanted – letterbox distribution
Company Name: Philip Johnson
“We need walkers to deliver a single flyer to household letterboxes melbourne suburbs in the coming weeks.
payment is $29 per hour with a minimum of 10hrs this can be completed in 2 days.
Looking for honest reliable people this is ongoing work for the right candidates”
The leaflet
Backpacker Feedback
We have received the following feedback from applicants. All of the following comments were received on the same day, leading to the employer account’s being blocked.
Did a trial shift and me and a guy from Northern Ireland did all the leaflets we were asked to deliver. He failed to respond to text messages and phone calls from the both of us. I took a picture of the leaflet called Carter’s Home Improvement. If you want a copy of the leaflet i will send a picture via email. The guy who claimed to be ‘Mike’ said he would give 125 dollars for a 6 hour trial and to complete the delivery of 800 leaflets. He has a black 4×4.
A friend of mine got this job and was told to be payed cash after the first to days. However, his contact at this company (who didn’t even say the company’s name) never replied to his texts after he worked there his first day, which means he has no further work and doesn’t receive the money. People in the hostel have said they fell for this too and worked there without receiving money.
This employer says that it is a marketing distributor and that the job is essentially delivering leaflets or newspapers etc to letter boxes.
The job states that new employees must do 2 days paid trial before being given marketing material to then distribute in the area that they live and update the employer to let them know how many hours etc they have worked.
I was told that I would be paid after my first two days however when it came to contacting the employer (Luke) to deal with payment we were told we had gotten the wrong number, when we wanted to make sure that we hadn’t gotten the wrong number, we were cut off. We then called the company that were advertised on the flyers, they also strung together a succession of badly thought out lies, which when called out on, they simply hung up.
DO NOT WORK FOR THIS EMPLOYER. LUKE IS A YOUNG MALE WITH AN IRISH ACCENT, THE COMPANY ON THE FLYERS IS CALLED ‘HUDSON’S HOME IMPROVEMENTS’. PLEASE BE AWARE OF THIS SCAM.
Mike told me to download an app, and walk and deliver flyers. I have not been paid, he has now blocked my number and my friends number without payment
On the job advertisement there is just a number and a name (Johnson)I wrote an sms to this number and he replied as ‚philipp‘ . We made an appointment for the next day for 11am at the Epping train station and apparently there were a lot of people waiting for the same job, I connected with three other German girls and waited with them but no one came. I called him after half an hour and then he said „I am at the car park please come“ so we Four girls went there..he stood there with another man next to his car and I am not sure how he introduced himself but I don’t think he called himself Johnson or Philipp. We asked him about payment and he said „have you talked with Philipp about it?“ and he couldn’t really say how the payment is organized, and just showed us how to walk and distribute the flyers , we needed to install an app called mywalk to send him a screenshot later of the roads we walked off… kind of manipulated we started walking then but after a while I got skeptical when I reflected about his communication about payment and his several names on one phone number … we Googled what the Flyer was about and the Flyer was advertising a Company that didn’t exist! The number on it wasn’t reachable and the address of the company was leading to an old rotten house on Nicholson st. I called Johnson/Philipp to confront him but I never reached him. I wrote him that I won’t continue work bc I have a problem but he didn’t get back to me. So I think it’s a scam and he would never have paid us . He advertises the work as a trial shift to rip off people of their time. The only thing is I don’t understand is – why does he rip off people to advertise a company that doesn’t even exist ? Really shady, if you ask me .
First day me and a German girl were given flyers to deliver in the morning. Delivered flyers all day now “mike” blocked me / stopped responding to our messages. Definite scam I think he is being payed to deliver flyers and getting people to do it for free while pocketing the cash . “Mike” is a bad man
I was asked to deliver leaflets door to door. Upon completion I got back in contact with Mike to meet and discuss further hours and receive payment. He did not answer calls or texts and I have been unable to connect him since
Was meant to meet to discuss work and paid trail and he never even showed up after waiting for 45 minutes and taking an hour train journey out of town
yesterday i worked 5 hours for this company, but at the end of the day after i supplied flyers he blocked my number and don’t asnwer my calles or text. Its just a man that use backpackers to get his job done. Serieus, so bad … can;t believe a human can be like this.
Doesnt seem legit . Asking to meet in a different place that what it shows on the map and the money is too good to be true
