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Someone is pretending to be me

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Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#191

Post by NaturalPhallacy »

lazide wrote: post #120
filmgirlcw wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, I'd be so in to take part in this drama. It would probably be one of the most memorable job interviews of all time. And I doubt there would be too many legal or corporate ramifications from allowing someone else to be on the call with their camera off. These are contractor positions, not full-time. Frankly, it's a risk I would take to be able to witness this sort of thing in real-time.

Eh, don't bet on it. What if #2 was real, and #1 was someone stalking #2? Or an abusive ex? If #2 doesn't get the the potential job, they could come after you for all sorts of things - emotional damages, economic damage (from not getting the job), etc. They might even be able to get the court to force you to give them the job, or at least waste years of your time and mental health dealing with legal hassles. It's hil…

I think the fact that it's a zoom interview changes things.

Even if one of them is stalking the other, it's not like they're physically in the same conference room together. the worst they can really do is yell at each other.

Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#192

Post by mirkules »

dont__panic wrote: post #107
mrandypratt37 wrote: post #86

I'm a US-based accountant who is currently interviewing for his first job in software and I was approached by someone on on LinkedIn about an opportunity. Seemed fishy, but figured I could risk 15 minutes. The person set up a meeting between me and a Taiwanese Developer for this exact thing. He said he had 7 years experience and had a contract drafted for he and I to become "business partner" where I would take the m…

If I can play devil's advocate for a moment... if the company gets decent work, the non-US participant gets better (and fairer, globally) pay compared to what they'd get locally, and the US participant takes care of the "soft" side of the operation... who's getting hurt? I can't deny that something smells skeevy about this and I don't think I could ever trust a random foreign developer who I haven't built up a solid…

I’m kind of at a loss that these propositions would be taken at face value. Imagine for a moment that these “talented web developer groups” whom you are essentially representing with your name attached to them are bad foreign state actors in disguise. Imagine what would happen to you if some malicious piece of code made it on some website processing personal information, payments, or worse. It’s eye-opening and really terrifying people don’t even consider this possibility, in 2022.

Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#193

Post by wildrhythms »

dabernathy89 wrote: post #90

If you are a software developer, check to make sure you aren't being impersonated on Upwork as well. A couple months back someone (I think I know who, but have no proof) was posing as me, and a suspicious client noticed that the person they were chatting with on video did not look that much like me in real life. Two other PHP/Laravel devs had impersonators on Upwork as well around the same time. One of these other de…

How might someone 'check' for this on Upwork?

Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#194

Post by wildrhythms »

kube-system wrote: post #53
peppertree wrote: post #21

Scam is rampant on LinkedIn. I'm getting constant connection requests from obviously fake profiles with AI generated faces.

And they all have 500+ connections. Bet they're scraping profiles or some crap.

The connections are also bots.

Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#195

Post by NaturalPhallacy »

dvykhopen wrote: post #169

I run a job platform. This scam is pervasive, especially with contract work. We've had to get really good at recognizing patterns because their covers are really good (even faking passports and work history). Many of the big contract platforms are dealing with this too. Hiring managers are getting tired of it and are 1) not hiring as many contract workers and 2) not using platforms to hire those workers. Unfortunatel…

>We've had to get really good at recognizing patterns because their covers are really good (even faking passports and work history).

I'm pretty sure that can get you into super duper extra trouble with the State Department.

Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#196

Post by vidalia »

I'd love to understand the legal/tax aspects of this - what SSN and addresses does the "middle man" use - I get that it's easy to get an SSN but within a matter of a year most of the work would be discovered come tax time. And IMO the best parts of Tech are the actual vesting and RSU/Option packages an employee gets.

Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#197

Post by NaturalPhallacy »

dabernathy89 wrote: post #90

If you are a software developer, check to make sure you aren't being impersonated on Upwork as well. A couple months back someone (I think I know who, but have no proof) was posing as me, and a suspicious client noticed that the person they were chatting with on video did not look that much like me in real life. Two other PHP/Laravel devs had impersonators on Upwork as well around the same time. One of these other de…

I actually have a weekly google alert that searches for my full name, which fortunately/unfortunately is basically unique. It's normally nothing but a handful of false positives, but the week I appeared in the local news lit it up like a Christmas tree.

Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#199

Post by digitallyfree »

jliptzin wrote: post #65

Email providers should publicly disclose how old an email address is, and email clients should warn about emails coming from brand new addresses. My gmail account is 15 years old, so any email I send is unlikely to be created just to impersonate someone else. This doesn't help though if your name happens to be Kevin Smith or something.

Speaking of the "Kevin Smith" case, I know of someone with a very common name going into an interview for a job he applied for - he was underqualified for the role and was surprised he was selected. Turns out the company had mixed him up with another candidate with the exact same name and sent out the interview invite to the wrong person!

Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#200

Post by wildrhythms »

burlesona wrote: post #35

So my guess is that the scam ends with the scammer negotiating a "deposit" to start contract work, and once the deposit is paid they disappear. Otherwise I think this scam would be a lot more work than just actually getting programming gigs and doing the programming work.

The way I read it is: the scammer will secure the contract using the help of their industry-decorated accomplice, and then outsource the actual work-related duties to developers they find on Upwork, etc.
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