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A fake job offer gone wrong

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Re: A fake job offer gone wrong

#311

Post by P5fRxh5kUvp2th »

leetcrew wrote: post #281
P5fRxh5kUvp2th wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you're in the US you can reverse the charge, whether debit or credit card, although with a debit card you'll have to be re-issued a new one. If enough people do chargebacks the payment processor will drop them because the ACH operator representing them will 100% fine the shit out of them if they don't. It's all contractual. My point is, if you want to put a dent in stuff like this, do a chargeback. Like a union, t…

> What's worse is most people don't even consider the risk to calling in an order from a local restaurant for delivery (chinese, for example). if you review your monthly statement, the "risk" is the possible inconvenience of having your card replaced. I don't let it stop me from ordering my favorite takeout, but you do you.

yeah... because ... you know, they'll only charge once in a first month and do nothing else.

Re: A fake job offer gone wrong

#312

Post by Viliam1234 »

grepfru_it wrote: post #264
jacurtis wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least your daughter went through a full interview, which does add a layer of legitimacy. The most shocking element of OP's story is that he never actually got interviewed by a real person. He filled out a questionaire, received no feedback from it other than "You're hired at 12.5% more than you're asking". This to me is the biggest red flag of all leading up to the actual "ask" to cash the check and send funds. It…

why why why would you send money to someone who would ask you to send it back. why can't they just convert that money state themselves? i always wonder how people end up for these scams. unless its your very close friend or family, don't launder money. i think this is a life lesson we learn in middle school and grow up to think adults are more trustworthy

Companies sometimes do things that don't make much sense. If you are not familiar with what is and what isn't "normal", it can be hard to tell the difference.

For example, when I company I worked for sent me on a business trip, I was supposed to buy the flight ticket using my own money, then bring them then receipt, and then they would pay me the money back. Why couldn't they buy the flight ticket themselves instead? They knew when and where I am traveling; they were the ones deciding that. It would be easier for one HR person to buy 5 tickets at once whenever one of the teams went to a business trip, than for 5 developers to buy the tickets individually and figure out the rules.

This totally felt like a scam (use your own money to buy something we want to buy, and you only have our word that will get the money later back), except it didn't make sense, because it was a large international company employing thousands of people, and I have already worked there for months. And yes, it was perfectly legit. Just needlessly complicated and weird.

So the fact that a company does something weird and needlessly complicated doesn't necessarily make it a scam. It's just likely a scam when they do it before paying you the first salary.

Re: A fake job offer gone wrong

#313

Post by Forgeties79 »

WesleyJohnson wrote: post #274

My wife almost got taken by a similar scam very recently, but for a remote content editor position. She was applying for various jobs, but one she didn't apply reached out to her. As she had been looking for a little while, but only finding opportunities that didn't quite fit what she needed in terms of pay, hours and schedule flexibility - when she was offered a position that checked all the boxes she was ecstatic.…

Content producer/editor here. Had a similar experience but they wanted me to sign up for all this stuff to begin the application process, as well as asked for a LOT of personal info.

We are definitely being targeted unfortunately.

Re: A fake job offer gone wrong

#314

Post by vba616 »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #272
grepfru_it wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why why why would you send money to someone who would ask you to send it back. why can't they just convert that money state themselves? i always wonder how people end up for these scams. unless its your very close friend or family, don't launder money. i think this is a life lesson we learn in middle school and grow up to think adults are more trustworthy

> unless its your very close friend or family, don't launder money. i think this is a life lesson we learn in middle school Sorry, what middle school child learned that? None that I know.

I think it was in high school, that I found out about the basic money-back scam, because I innocently tried to buy something in a store with a certified (bank) check for more than the right amount and they wouldn't give me change. Eventually they took it and said I would get a refund from headquarters, but they were extremely suspicious.

This was before the internet was really a thing, too, so the same basic scam has been around for a long long time.

Re: A fake job offer gone wrong

#315

Post by kube-system »

the_gipsy wrote: post #147
ryandrake wrote: post #48

Great job figuring out it was a scam but honestly, it’s crazy that these things still work on anyone all the way in 2022. You would think that by now every human being that walks the earth would know that whenever someone you don’t know sends you “money” and then requests you send it back (or to another party) in a different form, it’s always a scam. There should be some ceremony whenever someone turns 16 or somethin…

What amazes me is that americans still use cheques, that aren't "cleared" up to a week or so. That's ridiculous.

Like another person said, the decline of checks in the US is probably much of the reason why these scams are taking off. In the 80s or 90s everyone knew of the possibility of "writing a bad check". My local stores would even have lists of people posted at the checkout who they wouldn't accept checks from due to writing bad checks. Even if didn't use checks back then, you'd be aware of this possibility. But now, younger people are not as familiar with how they work.

Re: A fake job offer gone wrong

#316

Post by vba616 »

cmckn wrote: post #298
mdturnerphys wrote: post #83

They have my drivers license which contains a lot personal information but eh... proably somewhere based in india or something, I dunno. Freeze your credit reports with all 3 credit reporting companies. Last year someone flew into Seattle from out of state with a driver license with their photo but my info, including an old driver license number. They got a bunch of cell phones and attempted to open a number of store…

I’m mostly shocked that you can spend $64,000 on a Dodge Challenger. Sorry you had to deal with that, sounds like a nightmare.

Pikers! You can configure a new Challenger to slightly over $108,000.

Re: A fake job offer gone wrong

#317

Post by biztos »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #220
biztos wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I consider myself pretty quick to detect scams, having worked in cybersecurity, though probably no quicker than the average HN commenter. And yet 15 years ago I fell for the “sell products that are no longer available” scam. There was a keyboard I really wanted but it was no longer being made. However, I found an online shop that had them in stock! I ordered, paid, got my confirmation, and waited about two weeks befo…

How did you pay? Did you let it go because "only $100"? Because if you paid by a non-sketchy method (paypal or credit card) the chargeback should be straightforward.

Good point, but at the time I didn’t think of that. I’ve never done a chargeback, which is probably a testament to my banks’ fraud detection.

For $100-ish, and a good couple weeks since I made the payment, getting my money back wasn’t the main thing on my mind. Which, again, is an example of circumstances clouding your judgement. I was mostly just pissed I wouldn’t be getting the keyboard.

I did try a complaint to the BBB since the shop was (probably not really) listed there… from which I learned how useless the BBB is, so I guess in the end I got something for my money after all.

Re: A fake job offer gone wrong

#318

Post by hakfoo »

Viliam1234 wrote: post #312
grepfru_it wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why why why would you send money to someone who would ask you to send it back. why can't they just convert that money state themselves? i always wonder how people end up for these scams. unless its your very close friend or family, don't launder money. i think this is a life lesson we learn in middle school and grow up to think adults are more trustworthy

Companies sometimes do things that don't make much sense. If you are not familiar with what is and what isn't "normal", it can be hard to tell the difference. For example, when I company I worked for sent me on a business trip, I was supposed to buy the flight ticket using my own money, then bring them then receipt, and then they would pay me the money back. Why couldn't they buy the flight ticket themselves instead?…

I've seen that though. I was told to book my own travel and get it reimbursed too. Eventually they provided a portal to do bookings through, but it's still my card and reimbursement-after-the-event.

I suspect with a small firm that doesn't necessarily have a dedicated travel "guy" it probably simplifies things letting people book their own flights.

For some people, airline choice is a big deal. For some cities, you might even pick the wrong airport (i. e. if the person has an easier commute to Newark or Laguardia than JFK). Not to mention scheduling (maybe someone wants to travel the "day before" because of risk of too-tight scheduling).

OTOH, maybe it's simpler for "local team all in one city" versus "remote workers being herded to a single event".

Re: A fake job offer gone wrong

#319

Post by vba616 »

maccard wrote: post #151
csours wrote: post #24

As someone who has worked a corporate job for a while, this is all red flags _BUT_ if you have not worked for a corporation, and you really need a job, you may be motivated to dismiss those little warning signs so you can get paid. Scams don't work because scammers are smart; scams work because scammers exploit our motivations. Beware of charity scams this holiday season.

I've worked at corporate jobs and smaller companies, and frankly if a large company said "here's a list of our authorised resellers, and a signing bonus paid by cheque, please use it to buy equipment as it's faster than going through procurement" I would 100% believe them as at every job I've ever had (before I got a company card) it was faster and easier to just buy and expense. I genuinely wouldn't bat an eyelid un…

>if a large company said "here's a list of our authorised resellers, and a signing bonus paid by cheque, please use it to buy equipment as it's faster than going through procurement

That's not how I've seen things work at larger companies. It's more like "please go in that room that's full of abandoned computer junk and scrounge a monitor that still works as it's easier and faster than requesting a new one".

Re: A fake job offer gone wrong

#320

Post by librish »

P5fRxh5kUvp2th wrote: post #311
leetcrew wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What's worse is most people don't even consider the risk to calling in an order from a local restaurant for delivery (chinese, for example). if you review your monthly statement, the "risk" is the possible inconvenience of having your card replaced. I don't let it stop me from ordering my favorite takeout, but you do you.

yeah... because ... you know, they'll only charge once in a first month and do nothing else.

No but you'll get all of their charges reversed and then get a new card.
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