American Staffing Company Is this just an elaborate scam for identity theft? HOUSTON Texas

I have been submitting my resume to all kinds of sites like careerbuilder. I got a response from this company called American Staffing Company just like the other two gentlemen. It was from their HR department from Matthew Vatter the Chief Human Resources Officer (it has his picture and his title right on the website) to be a Staffing Coordinator but from home.

I was told via email (the only way we are corresponding the entire time up until this point) that I would receive an interview questionaire and upon satisfying that, I would then start my training at $900/wk or 43k/yr! and then when I get hired on permenently after they see I can do the job thouroughly it would jump up to $1300.00/wk or 62k/yr I thought great!. I was informed I would start recruiting for small businesses in Canada to start. Now at this point no real red flags went up because I had just recently dealt with a staffing company the had a main location outside of the state of California, but had reps in california with lap tops, so I was already exposed to this type of atmosphere, so I thought nothing of it.

Matthew Vatter then went on to email me I would also receive an ADDITIONAL $5500.00 in the account that I had to set up through either Citibank or Bank of America (the only 2 banks on the west coast out of several that I had to choose from for Direct Deposit) to pay for a laptop with fingetprint identification and a firewall protection program to gain access to their database of information to recruit candidates for specific jobs (which makes sense since I will be away in another state from the main branch in Houston) .But Thats when the red flags started to go up.

By this time I already signed a contract with the company stating we were doing business together; me the employee and American Staffing Company as the Employer, all official looking lawyer talk in the contract that you normally see upon getting hired in corporate America. Then I started thinking why would they need to send the money to an account that I had set up instead of just sendng me the equipment? along with my first week of pay? that was odd to me.

Then Matthew Vatter messaged me to also send a picture of my ID along with just a regular picture. Now this also didnt raise too much of an eyebrow because it makes sense if you are setting up direct depost and getting hired you need some kind of official ID for the company (im assuming a regular picture to help confirm who you are?) AND a checkng account fro direct deposit. At the same time I was getting skeptical because If Im a company, would I send $900.00 + $5500.00 to somebody's account? would I trust them with that kind of money? and what if I just receive this payment and never contact them again? how would they recover that? how do they know I didnt sent them a fake ID and some picture off the internet and a fake address?

 The reason I am still goin through this process (Im supposedly in training mode still) is because through all this they have yet to ask for ANY information that would give them complete access to the bank account I set up. the account I set up has no minimum money needed to set it up for the first 30 days (I mean theres I believe like 40.00 in it now, but all this for $40.00?), they have yet to ask for pin numbers, secret codes to gain access, debit card number, SSN. 

They do have a website www.astaffing.com with an address and even a little google map so you can see where they are located. I did research this company along with scams on google search. NOTHING has come back, unitl today I found this site the only one that has complaints about American Staffing Company. 

I did receive 10 chapters to train from and was told I have 5 days to train and get myself familiar with the training material so I can be ready to take the 50 question test. I finished that yesterday and took the test yesterday around 10:30 PST. Upon completing the 50 question test a message popped up that said they would be in contact with me in 24 hrs (im assuming business hours? so that would be Monday since I finished the test after business hours) . I was also told that my direct deposit info would be added to their corporate account tis week and my first payment of $900.00 and the $5500.00 was to be deposited into my account NO LATER THAN MARCH 28th. I was re-confirmed this from Matthew Vatter on Tuesday March 25th. it is now 4:25 PST and have not received ANY kind of payment so far. I am really confused here cause sometimes it seems legit and other times it seems like a scam. But a scam for what? 

Also Matthew Vatter said as far as taxes and w-2's go he would COME OUT here and meet with me in person to set that up? so I am going to see what happens. but what company that YOU know misses payments? also even after numerous attempts to ask questions about the process since Tuesday the 25th, I have yet to get a response from Matthew Vatter. I left a message on the generic VM this morning to let them know I have not received a payment

One last thing I did google map the address on street view to actually see where they are operating out of, and what comes up under that address is the Health and Human Services Building. There are multiple floors and I know some businesses share bulidings with State/ County buildings so...at this point I dont know what to think....all I know is Im falling behind on my bills