Gulf oil spill cleanup jobs phony, Yakama Nation told

Hundreds of members of the Yakama Nation tribe were offered $40-an-hour jobs related to the Gulf oil spill as well as room and board. To participate, the prospective employees had to provide their names, addresses and social security numbers.

But the nearly 800 members of the Yakama Nation tribe in Central Washington, who signed up for the gig, have learned that the offer was a scam, including a single mother who handed her children over to relatives to take the job.

Buses that were supposed to pick up workers last week and take them to Louisiana and Florida, never arrived. Some of the workers had quit their lower-paying jobs when they heard about the opportunity.