It looks like he has two other posts up as well: http://jobs.37signals.com/jobs/6958 http://jobs.37signals.com/jobs/7003 All sketchy and heavy on the caps lock.
A quick search on google shows that he is posting the same ads on other job boards: http://www.google.com/search?q=phenomsolutions1 (Not that it is super relevant)
I think it's totally relevant: I'm making a living by doing contract work right now. I now would never even consider accepting a job from phenomsolutions1. I'm really glad to know I shouldn't even entertain the notion of working with this guy.
This reminded me of something the other way around. Back in 1998, I was on summer break before going to college. My parents said I had to get a summer job, so I got an entry level PR job at a Web design agency (new media, baby!) in London. Somehow, within a few weeks I was attending recruitment interviews. One totally normal looking guy came in, sat down, and after a quick introduction the CEO asked him what his back…
At my first web job, the week I started there was an empty desk alongside mine. The other employees spoke of its absent occupant as though he was a bit of a curiosity (like they could talk - you could write a sitcom about that place). He eventually returned from leave and I found out why he was the strange one even in comparison to them: he was over 60 years old, still lived with his mother, had some penchant for buy…
They were the days! The oddest thing is I've Googled about 10 names from the late 90s Web design days and haven't found a single person. I can't imagine what they're all up to now but it doesn't seem to be the modern Web development industry, that's for sure. Were the late 90's "new media" bunch really a wackier, more diverse lot than we are now?
Add Akshay Rustagi (posted from Craiglist) to the list of scammers. Their usual trick is skype chat or talk. The best way to identify scammers is to talk face to face.
More people have been scammed face-to-face than over the internet. I am currently reading Robert Greene's The 48 Laws of Power, and he discusses many actual cons that have taken place over the years. My favorite is where a guy got $5000 out of Al Capone.
how does this scam work though? at what point does he actually get money out of people he approached to employ? don't tell me he's scamming people out of web-design labor.
Basically he would have used a stolen credit card to pay for the contest he was suggesting on 99designs.com. Then he would have awarded the prize to the designer, but asked the designer to send him back some of the money "for tax reasons" or some other nonsense via PayPal. If the designer can get the cash out before the chargeback comes in or the design contest site notices, then he profits.
Aside from that, he might just have been getting free design work that he could sell elsewhere.
It looks like he has two other posts up as well: http://jobs.37signals.com/jobs/6958 http://jobs.37signals.com/jobs/7003 All sketchy and heavy on the caps lock.
A quick search on google shows that he is posting the same ads on other job boards: http://www.google.com/search?q=phenomsolutions1 (Not that it is super relevant)
A search on google now shows this link is now the top google ranked search for this guys name.
I've been insulted in a chat by a HN member, too (chatting about contract work). Disconnect... I actually found it interesting to meet that kind of person (even if just virtual). To think that some put up with that kind of abuse every day in their office jobs...
This reminded me of something the other way around. Back in 1998, I was on summer break before going to college. My parents said I had to get a summer job, so I got an entry level PR job at a Web design agency (new media, baby!) in London. Somehow, within a few weeks I was attending recruitment interviews. One totally normal looking guy came in, sat down, and after a quick introduction the CEO asked him what his back…
can you think of any strange interpretations of "what is your background"?
like, could he have thought it was a question about his ethnicity, or anything other than career history?