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Someone is pretending to be me

connortumbleson.com

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Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#31

Post by KaoruAoiShiho »

probably_wrong wrote: post #24
KaoruAoiShiho wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the type of arbitrage that happens when developers have similar technical skills but not similar interviewing skills.

If the other thread [1] is to be believed there is no guarantee that the developers on the other side has similar skills. No need to dig up arbitrage when it could simply be a scam. Even the person they hired here to pretend to be Connor said himself that's he's just a junior that would pretend to be a senior. Maybe the idea is simply to get a well-paid job, work a couple months, get fired (maybe even with a generous…

Yeah it could be "just" a scam though the arbitrage is really a scam too. The other thread's doesn't make sense because the dev is still trying to work despite being immediately id'ed as a different person on zoom. This scam only makes sense to me to be doing something like stealing the signing bonus but actually trying to be a dev is curiously naive or stupid.

Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#32

Post by lazide »

mherdeg wrote: post #27

Is any actual work happening here? Does someone ever sign an offer letter and start checking in source code?

Many (most?) large companies might take months to fire someone even if it was blatant and obvious. Process to follow, etc.

Considering how distracted and overwhelmed many managers are right now, some might go years before catching on.

Even if no code got checked in. Chances are, they could also farm out a bit here and there to a friend to make it a harder problem to resolve for the company.

Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#33

Post by Gh0stRAT »

KaoruAoiShiho wrote: post #15

Why didn't they make a up totally fake person with a fake history instead of using a real person? I feel like it's possible to do, even fake a github.

If they want to actually start and collect a few paychecks, then they'll need to pass a background check from HireRight or whoever. This'll probably include transcript checks, verifying past employment, etc.

Much easier to just use a real person's identity.

Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#34

Post by scrollaway »

bdcravens wrote: post #23

A couple of weeks ago I received this email: "Hi, Billy How are you? I checked your Codementor account, it is great. I am *** **** from Ukraine. I am 32 and I am also a computer programmer. I want someone who can help me. Would you lend me your account? If you borrow it, I can earn a lot of money. I will pay 100 usd every month. Regards."

Yeah I've had people ask to buy my codementor account (https://codementor.io/jleclanche). I forwarded all of them to support@arc.dev, but I suspect some people always say yes ...

Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#35

Post by burlesona »

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.

Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#37

Post by CobrastanJorji »

This story is much more fun when you come at it from the interviewer's position. You've been doing interviews every week. They're mostly rejections. They're the same questions over and over with minor variation. You're about to repeat the experience for the 18th time and you're 100% on autopilot. But suddenly you're in a spy thriller. This is the greatest thing that's ever happened.

Is it a good legal/corporate decision to hide the person who claims to be the original and let him listen to the interview with the other candidate? Holy fuck, no. Is it going to be WAY more thrilling? Oh my god yes; how could you not?

Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#38

Post by cynusx »

peppertree wrote: post #21

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

Same here. I just ignore devs that apply directly to me on linkedin, I would be surprised if any of them were real or not an agency.

Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#39

Post by coldcode »

I think this is probably more common than we might think. Given remote work being preferred lately, this is probably doable, especially if companies are hiring large numbers of random contractors. I know my old team members (I retired recently) have gone through a ton of remote contractors recently, many of whom were completely useless. Thankfully I only hired people before Covid hit, and at that point everyone was required to work in office (at least for the work I was responsible for). Everyone I did take on was either excellent or at least competant. I did hire most of them off of phone interviews only, so maybe I was lucky.

If an experienced person does the interviewing asking the right questions / requiring tests / etc might be insufficient to realize the person you are interviewing is not the person who will do the work. I wonder how you would catch this before actually having the "worker" start.

I guess this is a downside of all remote work assuming your company is less than thorough in checking references/documents/etc.

Re: Someone is pretending to be me

#40

Post by KaoruAoiShiho »

Gh0stRAT wrote: post #33
KaoruAoiShiho wrote: post #15

Why didn't they make a up totally fake person with a fake history instead of using a real person? I feel like it's possible to do, even fake a github.

If they want to actually start and collect a few paychecks, then they'll need to pass a background check from HireRight or whoever. This'll probably include transcript checks, verifying past employment, etc. Much easier to just use a real person's identity.

Even for simple freelance gigs?
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