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I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

blog.daviddodda.com

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Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#171

Post by RandomBacon »

ep103 wrote: post #161
kwar13 wrote: post #134

I had a very similar experience: https://kaveh.page/blog/job-interview-scam I would never agree to run someone's code on my own machine that didn't come from a channel I initiated. The odd time I've ran someone else's code, ALWAYS USE A VM!

How are you guys spinning up vms, specifically windows vms, so quickly? I used to use virtual box back in the day, but that was a pain and required a manual windows OS install. I'm a few years out of the loop, and would love a quick point in the right direction : )

You take the time to set one up, then you clone it and use the clones for these things.

Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#173

Post by DavidDodda »

ishouldbework wrote: post #106
DavidDodda wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

thanks for the feedback. just fyi - this went though 11 different versions before reaching this point. so I am not able to share the full chat because i used Claude with google docs integration. but hears the google doc i started with https://docs.google.com/document/d/1of_uWXw-CppnFtWoehIrr1ir... this and the following prompt ``` 'help me turn this into a blog post. keep things interesting, also make sure you take a…

So, uh, this part "Here's the kicker: the URL died exactly 24 hours later. These guys weren't messing around - they had their infrastructure set up to burn evidence fast." was completely made up by the AI or did you provide the "exactly 24 hours later" information out of band in some chat with the AI?

no, that was me. i did not setup a watch script or anything to see how long the link was up for. but when I first tried it, it was active, and when I tried it the next day around the same time, it was gone.

Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#174

Post by codingdave »

I'm seeing red flags all over the story. "Blockchain" being the first one. The use cases for that are so small, it is a red flag in and of itself. Then asking you to run code before a meeting? No, that doesn't "save time", that is driving you to take actions when you don't yet know who is asking.

Still, I appreciate the write-up. It is a great example of a clever attack, and I'm going to watch out more for such things having read this post.

Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#175

Post by glenneroo »

Aurornis wrote: post #117
marcosdumay wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Create an account and let it age. So, just hire one of those "account aging" services? Because if you expect people to go there keeping everything up to date, posting new stuff, tracking interactions for 3 years and only after that they can hope to get any gain from the account... That's not reasonable.

> Because if you expect people to go there keeping everything up to date, posting new stuff, tracking interactions for 3 years What? You only need to create an account once. Update it when you're searching for a new job. You don't need to log in or post regularly. Few people do that.

...and hope LinkedIn doesn't get hacked again. I still get plenty of spam addressed to my unique LinkedIn address.

Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#176

Post by weinzierl »

devy wrote: post #16

The pseudonym "Mykola Yanchii" on LinkedIn [1] doesn't look real at all. Click "More" button -> "About this profile", RED FLAGS ALL OVER. -> Joined May 2025 -> Contact information Updated less than 6 months ago -> Profile photo Updated less than 6 months ago Funny things, this profile has the LinkedIn Verified Checkmark and was verified by Persona ?!?! -> This might be a red flag for Persona service itself as it migh…

"Page Not Found"

Someone apparently deleted the profile.

Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#177

Post by citizenpaul »

devy wrote: post #66
Aurornis wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Create an account and let it age. Seasoned accounts are a positive heuristic in many domains, not just LinkedIn. For example, I some times use web.archive.org to check a company's domain to see how far back they've been on the web. Even here on HN, young accounts (green text) are more likely to be griefing, trolling, or spreading misinformation at a higher rate than someone who has been here for years.

> Seasoned accounts are a positive heuristic in many domains, not just LinkedIn. Yep. This is how the 3 major credit bureaus is the United States to verify your identity. Your residence history and your presences on the distributed Internet is the HARDES to fake.

>Seasoned accounts are a positive heuristic

I've found for the most part account age/usage is not considered at all in major online service providers.

I've straight up been told by Google, Ebay and Amazon that they do not care about account age/legitimacy/seasoning/usage at all and it is not even considered in various cases I've had with these companies.

They simply don't care about customers at all. They are only looking at various legal repercussions balanced against what makes them the most money and that is their real metric.

Ebay: Had a Google: Corporate account in good standing for 8+ years, mid five figure monthly spending. One day locked the account for 32 days with no explanation or contact. At day 30 or so a CS rep in India told me they don't consider spending or account age in their mystery account lockout process.

Amazon: Do I even need to...

Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#178

Post by bwfan123 »

lawlessone wrote: post #126
devy wrote: post #16

The pseudonym "Mykola Yanchii" on LinkedIn [1] doesn't look real at all. Click "More" button -> "About this profile", RED FLAGS ALL OVER. -> Joined May 2025 -> Contact information Updated less than 6 months ago -> Profile photo Updated less than 6 months ago Funny things, this profile has the LinkedIn Verified Checkmark and was verified by Persona ?!?! -> This might be a red flag for Persona service itself as it migh…

LMAO this post on his page has to be an AI generated map, it puts the UAE in Bangladesh. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mykola-yanchii-430883368_hiri... Anyway I think we can add OP's experience to the many reasons why being asked to do work/tasks/projects for interviews is bad.

yea, And this team-bonding pic has a ghost finger -https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7379209...

On linkedin company pics, look for extra fingers.

Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#179

Post by weinzierl »

zahlman wrote: post #43
devy wrote: post #16

The pseudonym "Mykola Yanchii" on LinkedIn [1] doesn't look real at all. Click "More" button -> "About this profile", RED FLAGS ALL OVER. -> Joined May 2025 -> Contact information Updated less than 6 months ago -> Profile photo Updated less than 6 months ago Funny things, this profile has the LinkedIn Verified Checkmark and was verified by Persona ?!?! -> This might be a red flag for Persona service itself as it migh…

How am I supposed to become a real, trustable person on LinkedIn if I'm not already there?

Be a real, trustable person in real life. Let your real colleagues, acquaintances and friends contact you.

Re: I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'

#180

Post by burkaman »

DavidDodda wrote: post #68
nubg wrote: post #9

This article was written by an LLM. I get that the author might be self-conscious about his English writing skills, but I would still much rather read the original prompt that the author put into ChatGPT, instead of the slop that came out. The story - if true - is very interesting of course. Big bummer therefore that the author decided to sloppify it. David, could you share as a response to this comment the original…

thanks for the feedback. just fyi - this went though 11 different versions before reaching this point. so I am not able to share the full chat because i used Claude with google docs integration. but hears the google doc i started with https://docs.google.com/document/d/1of_uWXw-CppnFtWoehIrr1ir... this and the following prompt ``` 'help me turn this into a blog post. keep things interesting, also make sure you take a…

Your original document would have made a great blog post. The only thing the AI did is make it unpleasant to read and generally sound like a fake story.
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