Tell HN: Today I cam across a recruiting scam
A well known company had a job posting on LinkedIn. I applied. A day later someone emailed me saying they have received a lot of applications and in order to consider only those which are serious, they want me to answer a list of questions in a google doc.
This was unusual but I thought I will play along. There were 14 technical questions.
Boom! next day they emailed me saying I had got the job. No calls, no real interview. Not only that, all they wanted was my home address so they could immediately send me a check to buy stuff for my home office.
Of course, everything was a red flag with this process but which scammer offers to send you a check ?
What exactly was their end game ? The company name did not reveal much on google. The email address came from recruiting@<company>jobs.com
After checking more online I figured out that this is what they do.
1. Send you a check that you deposit in your bank. 2. You buy some stuff using that money 3. The company then asks you to wire transfer the remaining money in order to send you email and other credentials to setup your payroll. 4. You do that and they ghost you. Your bank later tells you the check you deposited bounce.
These are some of the worst scammers on earth harassing folks who might be already going through job related stress. I was surprised there was little info about this on Google searches.