Scammers Try Elaborate Fake Job Interviews On Google Hangouts (arstechnica.com) 49
Ars Technica documents "a new breed of digital fraudsters" using a complicated scam to prey on white-collar job-seekers.
It involves setting up a fake job interview process and the promises of high-paying work: Like most successful cons, this one involved gaining the willing consent of its victim through some combination of greed, fear, or desperation... The recruiter was responding to the application I had submitted a day earlier for a remote-work tech writer position at a biotech firm... The following day, I logged onto Google Hangouts, properly dressed and groomed for the video chat I'd been preparing for. To my surprise, I learned that the interview would be conducted using Hangouts' text messaging service... After a long briefing about the company, its research, and the oncology treatments it was developing, Mark began the formal part of the interview by introducing himself as the assistant chief human resources officer of the company and describing the duties I'd be expected to fulfill...
But there were two questions that seemed out of place. They wanted to know which bank I used and whether it supported electronic deposits, a process in which you deposit checks by taking pictures of them with your Smartphone. It seemed like an odd thing to ask, but I told them that my bank did accept electronic deposits and moved on to the next question... Within a few minutes of submitting my answers, Mark informed me that I'd passed the interview and would receive a formal offer to work from my home as a copywriter/proofreader. My pay would be $45/hour during my one-week training and evaluation period, stepping up to $50/hour when I became an employee.
The scammer even assigned fake work -- editing a monograph on cancer treatment protocols following the company's style guide -- while casually promising to send along a check to purchase the necessary high-end equipment for the job. The job-seeker was instructed to scan their deposit receipt and then email the image to the scammers. (And the check was issued from a private Catholic girls' school in Southern California -- while the job-seeker was instructed to make their purchase from "preferred vendors.")
Though the scam ultimately wasted 'more than two days worth of my time," at least it revealed something about today's online job sites. "After some more digging, it quickly became apparent that the False Flag Employer scam I nearly fell for is an increasingly common type of cybercrime."
It involves setting up a fake job interview process and the promises of high-paying work: Like most successful cons, this one involved gaining the willing consent of its victim through some combination of greed, fear, or desperation... The recruiter was responding to the application I had submitted a day earlier for a remote-work tech writer position at a biotech firm... The following day, I logged onto Google Hangouts, properly dressed and groomed for the video chat I'd been preparing for. To my surprise, I learned that the interview would be conducted using Hangouts' text messaging service... After a long briefing about the company, its research, and the oncology treatments it was developing, Mark began the formal part of the interview by introducing himself as the assistant chief human resources officer of the company and describing the duties I'd be expected to fulfill...
But there were two questions that seemed out of place. They wanted to know which bank I used and whether it supported electronic deposits, a process in which you deposit checks by taking pictures of them with your Smartphone. It seemed like an odd thing to ask, but I told them that my bank did accept electronic deposits and moved on to the next question... Within a few minutes of submitting my answers, Mark informed me that I'd passed the interview and would receive a formal offer to work from my home as a copywriter/proofreader. My pay would be $45/hour during my one-week training and evaluation period, stepping up to $50/hour when I became an employee.
The scammer even assigned fake work -- editing a monograph on cancer treatment protocols following the company's style guide -- while casually promising to send along a check to purchase the necessary high-end equipment for the job. The job-seeker was instructed to scan their deposit receipt and then email the image to the scammers. (And the check was issued from a private Catholic girls' school in Southern California -- while the job-seeker was instructed to make their purchase from "preferred vendors.")
Though the scam ultimately wasted 'more than two days worth of my time," at least it revealed something about today's online job sites. "After some more digging, it quickly became apparent that the False Flag Employer scam I nearly fell for is an increasingly common type of cybercrime."
Same old scam useing new tech! (Score:4)
Same old scam useing new tech! But they quickly go back to the old fake check scam.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
But they quickly go back to the old fake check scam.
Scams like this, involving bogus checks, are only able to exist because banks refuse to implement a system for verifying the authenticity of checks.
All checks contain an account number and routing number. If I take a check into a bank, it should be *trivial* for them to check electronically with the issuing bank and verify that the account actually exists and contains enough money to cover the check. It should be standard procedure, and basic common sense, that they do this before accepting any check for de
Re:Same old scam useing new tech! (Score:4, Insightful)
Nobody cares or wants to investigate because it's too common and they lack the resources to investigate.
There are better systems in place, and many countries don't use checks at all or have phased them out. The problem is that people are resistant to change and don't want to use new systems even if they provide significant benefits.
Patrick Combs should took the cash that he had (Score:2)
Patrick Combs should took the cash that he had an legal right to. Then maybe the banks would gave a dam.
Re: (Score:3)
The rest of the world uses a system called International Bank Account Number (IBAN). Your IBAN uniquely identifies your bank account, but only for deposits. When you make a payment, you can beam money instantaneously from any country to any other country if you have the recipient's IBAN, but you can't use it to pull money out. When that person pays you, he has to intimate the transfer to your IBAN.
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When you fill out an automated deposit form (e.g., for an employer) read the fine print: it typically states that they are allowed to withdraw funds in case of an overdeposit in error. So trust your employer before you fill out that form.
https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/23/business/turning-direct-deposits-into-direct-withdrawals.html [nytimes.com]
make $3000 a month (Score:2)
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If it seems too good to be true - probably is.
Xing / LinkedIn Spam brinking on scammy aswell (Score:3)
I've noticed this fraudulent job offering stuff in recent years picking up. Even "real" job offerings increasingly have a scammy feeling about them. Stupendous bullshit requirements with the potential employers keeping end-customers in check while they look for the required personell to hire and fire as needed, recruiters spamming my Xing account just to see if they can get someone for the cheap to sell at a triple premium, bullshitting their way into contracts with employers.
I've grown to trust job offerings less and less in recent years and this seems like a fitting low-point to me.
Re: (Score:3)
Not just job offers, many companies send out dubious communication that looks like a scam. All of this makes it much easier for real scammers to operate.
I had a (legit) unexpected call from an insurance company i use, they asked me to authenticate myself to them over the phone by handing over my password and personally identifiable information... I refused to do this, explained why and asked how she was going to authenticate herself to me first. This made her quite annoyed, and her only response was "we're
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big companies can and do provide appropriate info (Score:3)
A bit more than a decade ago, I got a call from citibank fraud prevention due to a credit card data breach.
The thing is, they didn't ask me for information, just a couple of simple choices. They wanted me to know that they were blocking the card, and asked if I would like a new one overnight without charge.
I think they also asked if there was anything pending to handle specially.
Their fraud detection/prevention unit is downright amazing in noting funny things. I learned to call and tel them when I would b
I've Seen It Happen (Score:2, Interesting)
This women walked into my office a few months ago, she had applied for a UX/UI position and thought it was weird we gave her a job after just a google hang out interview. She showed up because she was suppose to be a remote worker and we had a local office. They sent her a $5000 check to cash to set up her home office. Lucky for her her bank told her it was a scam. When she showed up she asked for some of my coworkers at headquarters and showed me the google hang out transcripts with them and their linked i
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Decline of the recruiting process (Score:1)
It doesn't help that high unemployment/under-employment has seriously skewed the power towards the employer even more than it already was. That means employers are getting lazy. Even when they have legitimate jobs, they rely on vaguely-worded generic job descriptions that could be, maybe not any job, but are pretty broad and could reasonably come from a huge pool of companies. So job-seekers are getting less verifiable clues than before. This is all on top of criminal elements exploiting the greater des
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It doesn't help that high unemployment/under-employment has seriously skewed the power towards the employer even more than it already was.
I just don't see it, unemployment is currently at a 50 year low . [bls.gov]
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Count both unemployment and under-employment and try again.
Sounds familiar (Score:5, Funny)
The scammer even assigned fake work -- editing a monograph on cancer treatment protocols following the company's style guide...
I had a similar experience. I was "hired" to sit in a bare office and make a handwritten copy of the Encylopaedia Britannica. I learned much about the subjects starting with the letter "A" and looked forward to getting to the "B" section. One day, I went to the office and found it locked with only a sign on the door that said "THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED”.
I have been advised to consult a private detective.
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Hmm.. I usually just string them along for a couple of minutes and then insult them in a very personal manner. I think next time I'll go for a "how did you get this number? Do you know that you're committing a felony?" angle.
Sounds like your time's worth a great deal less than you were claiming in your comment above!
I consider my time pretty valuable, but my propensity to fuck with a scammer depends on what I'm doing at the time when they call. If I'm actually trying to get something done they get hung up on, if I'm just sitting on my ass playing on my xbox I have no problem burning 15 minutes of their time.
Cheques/Checks? (Score:4, Informative)
If any employer, supplier or customer of any kind ever asked any questions about cheques - it would be a huge red flag for me. Cheques are all but obsolete in this country. They're still legal, and still used in a few cases, but no one half-serious about anything uses them any more. Hell, even broke students don't use them.
Similarly, if someone asked if my bank took electronic deposits, I'd think they were maybe calling from 1980. Banks are (I think) required to do so here, and they're obliged to do so with certain SLAs and such like so you know when money appears and disappears from the sender and receiver's accounts.
What's next? A call from Shithole Savings and Loan to say that Robber McSwale just cleaned out the bank and so until the next Stage, we ain't got no money?
You guys need a regulator that makes banks move into this century, and ideally into this decade. It won't stop all scams, but these are just too easy and shouldn't be possible.
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I just moved to the US from Europe. And the OP is correct. The single largest irritation to me here, is the banking. To be clear, it is only an irritation, not the end of the world. But the banking here is at least a decade behind any country I have lived in so far. And that includes (so called 3rd world) Africa.
In the EU (or Africa), if I want to pay a bill to any institution (not just a few large ones like here) or transfer money to anyone in the same country, I can do it online, immediately and for free.
Re: (Score:2)
Depends on the bank. The ones I've dealt with have what's usually called something like "Automated Bill Pay" that you can set up online. It's not necessarily an electronic transfer (it could be if they have a relationship with the recipient's company - usually a company); a lot of the time they just write out a check and mail it to the recipient. And automated annual, monthly, weekly, (daily?) payments are available. It works for individual recipients not just for companies. So, a bit clunky maybe, but
Resume Scams (Score:1)
I have received a lot of phone calls from New Jersey, Texas, and several other states. When I pick up the phone, the accent on the other end distinctly identifies the origin of the call. I have asked them where they are calling from and they honestly answer India. If there is anything remotely resembling an Indian accent, I just hang up. I have gotten interviews. Never from an indian, unless it was Skype interview. There are plenty of good reasons to not hire me. But there are also good reasons to find peop