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Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

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Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#451

Post by intothemild »

amusedreading wrote: post #402

lol, WrkRiot just posted this response https://www.facebook.com/WrkRiot/?hc_ref=SEARCH&fref=nf WrkRiot is considering legal action against a disgruntled former employee who has launched a slanderous campaign against WrkRiot and some of its employees via social media. While it is not our policy to discuss personnel matters, we want to make it clear that this former employee was fired for cause. Signed affidavits from…

Reality is that they have opened themselves up to a case that can be brought to the DA and the DA can pursue charges against the salary fraud.

If I was an American, I would be doing this regardless....

This facebook post of theirs just did two things

1.) Confirm its them. 2.) Lose them the ability to settle this quietly.

They could have quietly sat down with Penny and sort this out, but they didn't... that ship has sailed, they had one card in the deck to play, which was "Heres money, now take the post down and sign this non-disclosure".

But by posting it this on Facebook, then well .. they lost the ability to pretend it was not them.. there goes the ability to enforce a NDA.

They won't pay her now, the best they can do is "Don't go to the DA and we will give you the money" Which they won't do.

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#452

Post by ferto »

pluma wrote: post #169
programmer_guy wrote: post #41

Hey guys, just wanted to clear the air on some of the speculation: I'm actually with WrkRiot and can guarantee you we're not the company in question: I've got many weeks of paid on time pay stubs sitting right here. Plus we didn't have anyone matching any of the descriptions in this article. Interesting article though, it's really shitty some have bad experiences like this.

In case this isn't a troll or someone takes it serious: * WrkRiot's CEO has a dog as profile picture and stock photo on LinkedIn * Team page is mostly Asians (names were identified as Chinese and Korean by others here) * Company went through several iterations and was previously called "1for.one", which is as "anti SEO" as a name can get * Facebook page has old posts with Spongebob memes * Head of marketing is a woma…

Head of marketing is " a 23 year-old writer, musician and actress currently based in the Bay Area." Well,...

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#453

Post by ferto »

pluma wrote: post #169
programmer_guy wrote: post #41

Hey guys, just wanted to clear the air on some of the speculation: I'm actually with WrkRiot and can guarantee you we're not the company in question: I've got many weeks of paid on time pay stubs sitting right here. Plus we didn't have anyone matching any of the descriptions in this article. Interesting article though, it's really shitty some have bad experiences like this.

In case this isn't a troll or someone takes it serious: * WrkRiot's CEO has a dog as profile picture and stock photo on LinkedIn * Team page is mostly Asians (names were identified as Chinese and Korean by others here) * Company went through several iterations and was previously called "1for.one", which is as "anti SEO" as a name can get * Facebook page has old posts with Spongebob memes * Head of marketing is a woma…

Head of marketing is " a 23 year-old writer, musician and actress currently based in the Bay Area." Well,...

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#454

Post by wingworks »

restlessdesign wrote: post #197

Red flag #…well…whatever: noindex tags on the company’s homepage. Though maybe that’s included in that Chinese company’s “Scrub the CEO’s name and profile photos from the Internet” package.

I would never work for a company where the CEO's name and pictures aren't public. They're the face of the company, I'm not sure how he expects the company to become big if he's hiding all the time...

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#455

Post by intothemild »

tedmiston wrote: post #435

To gather from all of the subthreads, the company's names include: JobSonic, 1for.one, and WrkRiot. Disclaimer: Note that these are still technically rumors from the Hacker News comments that seem plausible but there has not been explicit confirmation, besides the author "recommending" a comment on Medium that points to this thread saying that HN has figured out the name.

The company "job sonic" posted something on its Facebook confirming that they will be suing a former employee for the medium post..

Thats confirmation in my book

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#456

Post by Chris2048 »

st3v3r wrote: post #318
Chris2048 wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are you claiming that "victim blaming" isn't a thing? I think the point is clear: "victim blaming" isn't a thing" isn't that claim, so why are you asking? Your example is one where some fault lies with the employee, namely employment due-diligence, although not entirely. Its possible for both parties to have partial blame for the totality of faults leading to a situation. A "victim" can also be at fault, as in the…

No. None of the fault whatsoever lies with the employee. None. Thus, your example is one of classic victim blaming, which is completely abhorrent.

No. Nada. Wrong. False. Truth-through-repetition.

Have a nice nice life distancing yourself from any responsibility.

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#457

Post by javienegas »

kabdib wrote: post #235
gaius wrote: post #166

Red Flag 4.5: The high percentage of H1Bs with little experience. This visa is meant to be for people with irreplaceable skills, not cheap labour.

How is it that an "H1B with little experience" is even possible, then?

H1B is for qualified workers in specialty occupations, the requirements are a 4 years degree, if less, 3 years of experience counts as 1 year of university studies.

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#458

Post by syshum »

jomamaxx wrote: post #205
einhverfr wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pay people in regular ways through regular channels. Seriously, though, ADP delivers paystubs. If they were using ADP, they would have gotten paystubs.

When a company has just started, they may have not set this up. You can invoice the company. It's not a big deal. Again - of all flags - lack of pay stubs is the least of them if it's just a garage startup with 3-ish people. The actual exchange of money is 100x a stronger indicator of health than the presence of a stub.

If you are "invoicing" the company you are not employee but an independent contractor

Contractors never get Paystubs

and yes there it is a HUGE red flag (and likely illegal) for a EMPLOYEE to invoice a company for their wages.

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#459

Post by javienegas »

kennell wrote: post #161

How on earth does a shady, newly founded company with a handful of people manage to hire 8(!) H-1B workers from China? I really feel bad for those workers. Essentially they are obeying coding slaves for the company until they eventually get their green card. They can not risk being fired, they will not ask for a raise, they can not easily switch to another job etc. etc. A native worker like the author is less likely…

Many of JobSonic devs have been foreigner students in the US, that allows them to work after their MSc is finished.

H1B application (lottery this days) is at the beginning of April, H1Bs granted visas won't be effective until October of the same year. Most of the JobSonic devs started in the end of 2015, therefore they are not H1B visa holders, JobSonic 'probably'(I hope) applied for their H1B visa because they have been students in the U.S. they have more chances of winning the H1B lottery. If the won the lottery, their visas won't be valid until October 2016.

There is a quota of 60k H1B per year, and extra 20k for students in U.S. Universities.

Edit: So their H1B application (Oct 2016) depends on JobSonic well being, that's why they are not asking about getting paid, because their H1B visas are not valid yet.

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#460

Post by xenophon »

kelukelugames wrote: post #433
wpietri wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

However much I want to see these culprits caught and punished, I think it's a lot to ask a jobless, possibly homeless person to attract retribution from people who have already proven that they will do absolutely anything to maintain the appearance of success. Even when you win, bogus lawsuits are expensive and painful to sort out. My mom was sued after a business deal went south. Seeing the judge find for her on all…

I agree with you too. Speaking up is a privilege. Hard to do with a mortgage and a family. That's why when I worked at Redfin, employees rather leave instead of complain. Retaliation is real.

An aside that seems relevant to a general discussion of "name vs not name": I've noticed that you (or a set of users that share your very unique username, perhaps) spend a ton of time attacking Redfin on various social media accounts (HN, Reddit, Facebook). I used to work there, too, and it's strange that you consistently describe the company in a negative way that is unfamiliar at best and completely unwarranted to the best of my knowledge.

It sounds like you had a really bad experience, which of course is your prerogative. But generalizing your experience to attack an entire company seems to demand a higher burden of evidence and credibility -- a standard that is tough to ascribe to an anonymous hit-and-run commenter who seems to have the sole motive of flinging as much dirt as possible.

I guess the question I'm posing, to you and to this forum, is the following: to what extent can you take a non-specific, general denunciation seriously without a name and a real reputation behind it? Penny did a brave, good thing in writing about her experiences for public consumption. If you want anyone to take you at your word, I'd encourage you do the same. I look forward to reading about your perspective, with a name and context attached, since it's worlds apart from mine.

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