Yikes. Hope I don't run into one of these when I graduate. :/
Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup
491–500 of 619 posts
Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup
#492I've been burned repeatedly by startups recruiting me for one role which matches my experience/skillset, then after a month or so radically changing the role to one which I'd had no experience with. I get pivoting, I get needing to be flexible, but why would you hire someone skilled in networking operations and four weeks later decide that person need to design/develop your Windows application instead? I've always be…
why didn't you just use the MVP as leverage? surely he would have given in?
Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup
#493Earlier quoted context omitted.
> When a company has just started, they may have not set this up. The correct (and only non-criminal) order of operations is (1) figure this out, (2) start hiring employees. If you can't calculate withholdings and all those other things that get listed on a paystub correctly (which is the only thing that would stop you from generating a paystub), you are breaking the law (civilly and perhaps criminally under federal…
"When a company has just started, they may have not set this up. The correct (and only non-criminal) order of operations is (1) figure this out, (2) start hiring employees." This is false. For any of you interested - here is the actual law in California: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_independentcontractor.htm It's perfectly normal and very common to submit invoices for services rendered that you claim on your 1099.…
You seem to persist in not understanding the difference between a w2 and a 1099.
fyi, as alluded to elsewhere in this thread, the government deems payroll taxes to be paid by the employee on the date he or she receives his or her share of the paycheck. At that point, the business is holding the taxes on behalf of the government. Officers of the company are regularly held personally liable for unpaid payroll taxes. The irs and state tax agencies choose a "fuck you, pay me" approach to these taxes. You should probably not screw about with them, but to each his own...
Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup
#494Earlier 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…
So your argument is that this person has no rights to know who this person who is scamming startup employees is and that the "reasonable" action they should take is to offer $100k. You can't seriously believe this makes sense, right?
Just to be clear, your offer is this ex-employee possibly gets to pay a $x00k legal bill for your convenience, right?
Read about, eg, what happened to Mother Jones when a billionaire sued them. It's easy for one person with more money than the other to impose huge costs in our legal system.
Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup
#495Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Isaac Choi" - I'm starting to imagine the lie was that he had a Chinese company scrub his name and he's not called Isaac or Michael. Having other people pay the cheques saves giving his name away too.
His real name is probably "Yi Suk Choi".
It is Yi Suk Choi, per the California corporation registration of 1for.one
Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup
#496This guy?
Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup
#497The fake wire transfer receipt is fraud. That's a criminal offense. Have a talk with the local DA. California has a large prison system, with cell space available. I've never heard of a startup going that far.
OP would be doing a service to society by taking it to the DA.
These guys are going to end up seriously scamming some innocent party in the future.
Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup
#498They have scrubbed their online presence.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/30/wrkriot-vanishes-after-sca...
Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup
#499Earlier 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…
So your argument is that this person has no rights to know who this person who is scamming startup employees is and that the "reasonable" action they should take is to offer $100k. You can't seriously believe this makes sense, right?
I cannot quite fathom the confusion of ideas that results in your comment here.
What does a "right" to know something mean? Apparently you think that kelukelugames has the right to force Penny Kim to make public statements that would put her at the risk of a major lawsuit. Can kelukelugames compel this of everyone who has a bad employer experience? By what mechanism is the right enforced? What are the penalties if kelukelugames right to know is not enforced?
As far as I'm concerned, the only rights involved here are Penny Kim's rights to privacy and freedom of association. She was not obligated to publish this. Doing so was difficult and puts her at risk. It was a gift. I think it's ungracious to look at a gift and say, "YOU OWE ME MORE!"
If you would like people to publish more things like this, especially to the extent of naming names, then I think the best approach is to reduce the risk to whistleblowers. One way to do that is to create a legal defense fund large enough to handle a lawsuit over the naming of names. My guess is that $100k is about the minimum for that.
Does that help explain my comment?
Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup
#500Earlier quoted context omitted.
except: https://medium.com/@dtunkelang/lesson-learned-ab0dc6723b8c#....
Daniel on his Facebook page says to "help the victim" and he attached a link where she's asking for a job: https://www.facebook.com/dtunkelang/posts/10101152283865739?...
Yes, this is real. And she could really use the help. It was very brave of her to come forward this way: she took personal risk, and it's not like she's gaining anything from this personally. On the contrary, she's facing threats of legal action, as well as the risk that future employers might avoid her because of association with this dumpster fire.