Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#1

Post by pqtyw » Fri, Jun 12, 2026, 5:22 PM UTC

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48506575

Clearly seems like something dodgy and most likely a scam, why would it be on the first page?

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#2

Post by site-packages1 » Fri, Jun 12, 2026, 5:26 PM UTC

Very weird I cannot flag it. It's definitely a scam. Normally one cannot flag ads. Did HN pay for this advertisement? Is this a YC company? I really doubt they would be funding a company like this.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#3

Post by toomuchtodo » Fri, Jun 12, 2026, 5:26 PM UTC

Tell HN: Gauntlet AI Is BloomTech/Lambda School - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42761972 - January 2025 (8 comments)

Gauntlet AI is an intensive 12-week AI training - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42759459 - January 2025 (6 comments)

Gauntlet AI – An intensive 12-week AI training - Automatic $200k/yr job - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42410277 - December 2024 (2 comments)

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

(TLDR Gauntlet AI -> LambdaSchool & BloomTech | YC S17)

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#4

Post by quickthrowman » Fri, Jun 12, 2026, 5:28 PM UTC

It’s a /jobs post.

Link to all job postings, the Gauntlet AI one is at the top of the list: https://news.ycombinator.com/jobs

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#5

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jun 12, 2026, 5:28 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#6

Post by cgh » Fri, Jun 12, 2026, 5:29 PM UTC

These guys are run by Bloomtech, one of those scammy coding bootcamp things.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#7

Post by deadbabe » Fri, Jun 12, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC

Needs to be a post mortem on how this was allowed to happen.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#8

Post by mikesurowiec » Fri, Jun 12, 2026, 5:32 PM UTC

When I saw this, I thought it was a paid advertisement on HN. yuck. At least when other companies do the jobs post it always includes "is hiring" to make it clear what it's for.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#9

Post by gamblor956 » Fri, Jun 12, 2026, 5:32 PM UTC

site-packages1 wrote: post #2

Very weird I cannot flag it. It's definitely a scam. Normally one cannot flag ads. Did HN pay for this advertisement? Is this a YC company? I really doubt they would be funding a company like this.

YC funds a lot of dodgy companies these days.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#10

Post by hootz » Fri, Jun 12, 2026, 5:34 PM UTC

Last time I found a spam account only posting links to scam websites, I sent an email to HN and they banned the account.