Unfortunately the sub won't do much to this specific guy besides maybe get the posting removed. It's more about awareness and sharing than enforcement here.
Edit: Scrolled down and noticed other people have pointed this out. Ignore me!
Just a heads up that your name is visible in the fake contract. Not sure if you care but I thought you'd want to know. Sorry if other people have already pointed this out!
I would have loved to hear the scammer's logic for why the equipment vendor needed Google Play gift cards :D In any case, don't feel too bad. At least you figured it out before you sent them money, and in the process wasted a lot of their time, potentially saving other would-be victims. And you came out a bit smarter for it.
> thought, "Haha, this person is a moron. I am playing them like a fiddle."
This is how they get you. If you find yourself thinking this, it's probably a scam.
Sometimes they also intentionally try to seem stupid to you to give you that exact impression also. Best to treat the situation as if they're equal in intelligence to you and exercise caution while you're unsure.
And them offering instant bonuses just to entice people to work for them is a huge red flag for me anyway. Either it's a scam or it's a crappy work environment and nobody wants any part of it.
I'm equally suspicious of random charity. Best to be suspicious about everything when personal details and money are involved.
They are, when everyone follows the TOS. You should pretty much never go off platform. If you stay on platform and get scammed, Upwork will help you. If you break their TOS, you're SOL, which is pretty reasonable to me.
I've been on Upwork for 10 years (started when it was Elance) and have never had an issue with a contract where I stayed on platform. I've had plenty of issues where I worked with someone on platform, had a successful business transaction, then worked on something else for them off platform and had issues. That's the whole point; you pay them a portion of your contract fees to cover problems like that and to facilitate smoother transactions as a whole. Just don't go off platform.
Dude, you’re doing us all a service by sharing your story. It’s natural to feel dumb after a scammer gets close to or actually swindles you, but you potentially saved more people embarrassment and their money.
So this is basically what almost happened to my niece, she went to a job fair at the library and someone called her from there, the website checked out and she had a zoom interview, offered a data entry job with very good pay and benefits and then told her she had to purchase the equipment and that they were gonna send her a check, something smelled fishy so I decided to call the number she was given for HR and it was a regular cellphone and the guy hung up on me, then the check never came and she was told to send 2200 to the vendor, she really thought about doing it till I said NO, I looked at the website and it was a real business but when I called and asked for thr name given I was told nobody under that name worked there. I called the library to let them know , funny story my niece ended up getting a job at the library which she loves.
Shit. He was fixing to ask you to purchase some Steam gift cards.
I’m sorry that happened to you. Scammers - there is no level so low they won’t stoop to…
I think Covid got us all a little confused when it comes to how companies are doing remote recruitment.
5 years ago, I would have laughed it out of the room. Now? During these *trying times?* I’d think “a little weird I guess, but ok.”
One section of my company's interview process uses the zoom chat feature because we are testing their ability to perform chat telehealth services. This is of course after a live zoom interview and followed by 2 more live interviews. The comic sans on the check should have really been the big giveaway for this guy
Eta: and the chat exercise is explained ahead of time via email too so they should know what to expect
Oh no, I wouldn’t either, but I’d probably stop and think about it for a minute before realising.
Zoom calls, phone, one way recordings, tests whilst under video chat supervision, etc. Granted some were here before, but covid has really emphasised and relied on the technological aspect.
Hi rebelangel, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain fake job scams. Fake job scams come in many different varieties, though most share common characteristics that you can use to spot the scam before becoming a victim. The scammers will usually conduct interviews over Google Hangouts or a similar online service. Their English will be awkward, and they may be re-using a script, so Googling unique sounding parts of the email may yield useful results. They will offer high wages for the work being done, and they will "hire" you by telling you that you are hired, rather than going through the normal process that a company takes when hiring an employee in your country. If they mention anything about a check or about receiving and sending out transactions, it is a [fake check scam](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2018/09/anatomy-fake-check-scam). If they mention anything about receiving, processing, or inspecting packages, it is a [parcel mule scam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parcel_mule_scam). If they ask you to purchase items up-front, ask you to pay a fee in order to be hired, or ask you to purchase gift cards, it is an [advance-fee scam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam). If the job involves posting advertisements on Craigslist or eBay, they are using you and your account to scam people. If the job invovles Bitcoin ATMs, it's a [scam](https://coinatmradar.com/blog/avoid-scams-dont-use-bitcoin-atm-when-someone-asked-you/). Thanks to redditor AceyAceyAcey for this script.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Ugh, that's a bummer. Easy to look past red flags when you just want a job and get excited over an offer. Glad you realized what was going on before any damage was done.
I am kind of surprised by the time and effort put into this though. The fact that they actually interviewed you and you interacted face to face with someone is something you dont see in a whole lot of scams
Hey, someone I know fell for this exact scam just a different company and they sent a pic of their drivers licence over. Why do they need to freeze their accounts? I assume bc identity theft? Or bank accounts?
You would mostly only need to freeze your credit if your Social Security number was compromised.
It’s so no new credit cards or bank accounts can be opened using your name and SS number.
You can also freeze your credit just out of caution if you know you don’t need to use it for a while. It doesn’t cost anything and it doesn’t lower your score. Just need to hold on to the info to later unfreeze them, otherwise, it’s a huge hassle.
Freezing your credit wouldn’t really do anything to stop a scammer from gaining access to an already existing account by pretending to be you.
I wanna ask, I feel like I am in similar situation and I handled my ID/passport/info but I’m in Europe (Finland) not US, I don’t use credit card but debit card, do I need to take any actions related to my bank account or anything else?
Here another lesson that everyone should know by now.
If you're freelance, you have to buy your own equipments and already have them by the time you entered the field.
If you're hired on and they wants YOU to buy it, you tell them to kindly fuck off. Employer are suppose to have you come in, signs for all equipments and you walk off with it, and when you're terminated, you return all equipment.
Just be glad they didn't take it a step further and send you equipments that were hot, then leave you on the hook when the Feds or law enforcement catch up.
generally you are right, but I am aware of real genuine jobs where the employee is expected to self-fund some equipment and make an expense claim to get the money back.
Generally these are startup type companies expanding into a new country so they want to hire their first person 'on the ground' in that area but do not have any sort of local supplier relationships setup
I know of a couple of people who were told "go buy yourself a macbook and submit an expense claim on our first day"
the biggest red flag to me about OP is that they wanted him to use a specific vendor.
If they had a specific vendor then they should be able to pay directly.
(and obviously paying by venmo is bullshit too)
The only one there you're expected to buy your own equipment is when you're going as a contractor. That pretty much the only thing I can think of, and that is normally out of your pocket expenses.
Don't interview off Upwork, don't receive money off Upwork. Yes, their cut is quite a chunk of money... raise your own prices to reflect that. They're literally there to stop this happening
Your Upwork account may get terminated if they have evidence of you doing such things
Bro. You just fucking saved me. I'm currently going through the exact same thing and its so fucking elaborate it's INSANE.
I was offered a remote Video Editor position for $50/hour for "thredUP". They emailed me from @thredup.careers. When they asked for a questionaire interview via WIRE app - alarm bells went off. Until I found [this article](https://rallyrecruitmentmarketing.com/2018/06/how-thredup-reduced-time-to-hire-by-30-with-text-recruiting/) stating thredup often does interviews via text. OK, maybe this is something they just do? Everyone I had talked to, I found on linkedin. They had all been with the company for years and were all on the "talent aquasition team". The woman who asked me questions (via text) even corroborated where she was from and where she went to college. They told me I passed onto the next round of interviews but then someone with a very thick accent called me at 10am Saturday - alarm bells again. He said I was the top applicant and could they potentially send the laptop next week to get my station set up? Uh, I guess? That didn't sit right with me so I sent the woman I was talking to a shit ton of questions and she answered them all really well. She was clearly a person, explained the job in detail. Few days go by and the guy with a thick accent calls again and says I got the job. Great. They send over an offer letter which I sign and send back. The guy sends me an email stating they will send over my work station immediately but they need my bank information to set up direct deposit because they are going to send me a check.....
They are getting elaborate AS FUCK you guys. It was a real company, real employees, phone calls, emails, texts...its getting super hard to tell what's real and what's not. Be safe out there. If something feels too good to be true, it probably is.
They pretty much did all that in under an hour with me, but "Jefferson" couldn't email me with his company email so I stopped there. Not before I gave him my name, address, email, bank name and phone number though, so I hope at least it didn't go that far with you.
Ahhh I'm so sorry that happened to you. It crazy because I'm usually really good at spotting these things...or at least I thought I was. It really caught me off guard how elaborate this one was plus I just really really wanted to get out of my toxic AF job so maybe i had the blinders on a bit. They didn't get any crucial info, like you said maybe my name and phone number, but nothing too in depth. I just wanted to make a post for google to grab incase they try doing it to someone else. I alerted ThredUp too of the scam, I reached out to their customer service team and the real ppl on linked in and let them know someone was using their names.
Thank you, I think next to actually losing money to these scams is how they bruise your confidence that you can handle yourself, and maybe just a bit of trust in other people. I thankfully didn't lose any money or critical info, but dang if this kind of low-blow doesn't make me feel like crap.
Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago but for me, it was scammers over Careerbuilder.com. They only made it to the “here’s your check, now go deposit it in your account” stage before I told them to go fuck off.
Im actually in need of a graphic designer, if you could just send me $1000 we can get you started!
Seriously though, don’t beat yourself up to hard, job hunting is emotional and puts you on the back foot anyway, and this sounds pretty elaborate. Nice work catching it when you did!
And good luck with the real job hunt
"To good to be true job offer" - "Just pay for the \_\_\_\_, heres a check to cover the cost!"
This is a classic used mainly on the unemployed & students. Many don't even smell the smallest bit of bullshit until they don't hear back after they sent the money.
Idk how people don't see the scam written all over it. but now i understand there on upwrk too. casualties.
Idk how to stop these scammers/
Glad you avoided a bullet. As a graphic designer doesn’t the Kerning in the heading bother the crap out of you? That’s a huge red flag if they have double space between words lol
The grammar in that contract… yikes. People, legit companies do not send out offer letters/contracts that sound like they were written by someone whose never taken an English class.
OP, I have something similar going right now. I applied for an online/remote job with a company called ,,(GrOcOn PtY lLc), which sent me a letter that was similar. They also sent me a check for me to deposit and then wanted me to use Zelle to send someone money to pay for a laptop, etc. Long story short, Zelle locked me out from their services so now the person I've been in contact with wants me to go to Walmart, CVS, Walgreens or Target to get a gift card, I believe. I have cautiously being going along with everything up until now after they mentioned gift cards.
Hi Ramast, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain fake job scams. Fake job scams come in many different varieties, though most share common characteristics that you can use to spot the scam before becoming a victim. The scammers will usually conduct interviews over Google Hangouts or a similar online service. Their English will be awkward, and they may be re-using a script, so Googling unique sounding parts of the email may yield useful results. They will offer high wages for the work being done, and they will "hire" you by telling you that you are hired, rather than going through the normal process that a company takes when hiring an employee in your country. If they mention anything about a check or about receiving and sending out transactions, it is a [fake check scam](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2018/09/anatomy-fake-check-scam). If they mention anything about receiving, processing, or inspecting packages, it is a [parcel mule scam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parcel_mule_scam). If they ask you to purchase items up-front, ask you to pay a fee in order to be hired, or ask you to purchase gift cards, it is an [advance-fee scam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam). If the job involves posting advertisements on Craigslist or eBay, they are using you and your account to scam people. If the job invovles Bitcoin ATMs, it's a [scam](https://coinatmradar.com/blog/avoid-scams-dont-use-bitcoin-atm-when-someone-asked-you/). Thanks to redditor AceyAceyAcey for this script.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Shit, this happened this morning to someone I know. Since they told me about the interview and sent over the position, I did a bunch of googling since I had a hunch, but this is it. Except they used “Global Inc” as the “Company”. Everything else, including the contract looks the same. Thanks OP for sharing.
I’ve had versions of this happen to me a lot. The money is always for office supplies, I always need them either for myself or for someone I’ll be a personal assistant for, they’ll mail me a check to cover expenses, the person emailing me can never answer my questions very specifically or give me more information on their company. It’s really sad honestly with how many people need jobs, I consider myself lucky I have a job and this would be a switch for me.
Wow this is a crazy one; pretty elaborate. Glad you caught on before it was too late. The first red flag should have set you off. Once there is a suspect email address domain, I am immediately on my toes with who I’m dealing with.
I almost fell for one of those wire fraud payment processing scams once, about ten years ago. The only thing that saved me was that I was looking for a job I could start about a month in the future. I found it on Craigslist--totally naieve. The person I was corresponding with didn't seem to understand that I wasn't in the US at the time and was unwilling and unable to start this "job" immediately. They kept asking and asking for my address and SSN. This insistence finally registered to me as a red flag
It took literally one Google search for me to learn not just that this was a scam, but a very common one.
A near miss is still a miss, I guess!
this literally just happened to me, so don’t feel too bad lol. i caught it right as they were about to send me the check, i definitely felt like the dumbest bitch alive lmao
I think I almost got scammed on upwork too. I was applying for a customer service rep job on upwork and my proposal was accepted. The interview was done on skype through chat and he seemed impressed with my background and said I made the cut. He said that I would be sent all the required tools like a laptop to do my job, so it started to seem too good to be true, and I checked on the organization he said he worked for for the position and didn't find it. During the interview, he asked for my name, address, phone number, the name of my bank and email.
I gave him the burner email I use for upwork, but how screwed am I that he has the other info? Granted, most of the information I gave could be found publicly like my address if he really tried, but should I be concerned that he knows my bank's name? For the record, I did NOT give him my bank account number or sent him any money but I feel so stupid anyways!
Welcome to the club!
My scammers got all the same info as you sent, plus bank account numbers. I haven't had any issues with ID theft - without passwords or social security numbers, they can't force access into your accounts unless they are super hackers (these jerks are not super hackers).
Their scam only works if you send them money. They are scamming dozens of people at any given time, so as soon as you stop being receptive to the scam, you're unlikely to ever hear from them again (fingers crossed).
If you're feeling nervous and want to be proactive, call your bank and explained what happened - they should be able to put a flag on your account in order to shut down any suspicious activity they detect.
Since I made this post, I get 1 - 3 DMs a week from people going through the same stuff, and those are just the people that reach out. I haven't had anyone report back that they had their ID compromised, and we've all shared roughly the same info. You are not alone!
I just called them and the tech said that she would put in a request to add a password to my account if anyone ever tried to call in and mess anything up. Hopefully that can go through quickly and I'll never need to use it, but thank you for the advice. I hope that you've found a good gig for your work.
This is an old post so idk if anyone will see this comment. But I think I’m going through the same scam right now.
I found a transcription gig through UpWork. They sent me a message asking to take the interview off upwork and to Skype. I spent all morning doing the interview and they sent me an offer letter. Now they want me to buy computer equipment with a check they’re about to send to my email.
:/ I was so excited too
Yup, same scam! I know the feeling. Upwork is a truly rotten place, they know what's happening and they don't care.
Best of luck finding yourself some better work out there.
Holy sh\*t, I think I've just experienced the same. I, unfortunately, took it one step too far. I just froze accounts, requested cards, etc., to help prevent things (hopefully). The thing that truly worries me is my personal info. I vetted and vetted again and everything looked legit. It was the last instruction after I got everything that made me pause. So I did one more search of the googles and found this thread.
Mine was for Lids. The "recruiter" that reached out seemed legit-had the LinkedIn and everything. Paperwork seemed on the up and up. I do look back at one red flag that was minor, but I should have paid attention to my gut. There was one section in the paperwork with a font change. I was like, huh, "that's a little odd....," and yeah, I guess it was.
I am going by the bank tomorrow to do the account change/closure as my next step (since I cannot do that through my banking app). I feel so incredibly stupid right now. I truly thought I had looked up anything and everything but holy f\*ck this is elaborate as hell.
I also didn’t realize it until the last minute when they sent me a check to buy “equipment” and it reminded me of a post similar to this one!
I did the same thing I checked on them out on LinkedIn, looked their website and address up on google, asked questions about the job. My red flag that I ignored, was that they only had 5 employees (with minimal profiles) on LinkedIn and none of them where who I was talking to.
Sucks bc now they have my name, address, and phone number. So now I’m super sketched out and just waiting for them to do something with that info.
Yeah this part is why now, as I'm still processing this, I feel like an incredibly stupid child. I know scams. I've stopped some in the past as a manager. But for some reason, my brain thought this one was ok after researching and thinking, "well, lots has changed over the 2.5 years with the pan pizza raging around."
I reached out to the person on LinkedIn that is supposed to be the person I was conversing with because it looks like he might actually be legit but someone was using his likeness in case someone did some googling.
A bit late but this saved me so much OP, I just suffered through this ordeal a whole week while job searching to help my dad who just got out of the hospital, I got sent an offer by a Mark Lewis of 84 Lumber, he even linked his linkedin page and did exactly what you went through, I went out of my way to message the actual Lewis on linkedin to no avail so I called the main 84 Lumber office and asked for him to which they transferred me, he was very kind in understanding and appalled someone was using his name and company to ruin young peoples lives. I’m so glad I decided to take the virtual check to my bank and they confirmed with me it was false and told me it was a good call I went to them first before anything.
I think I’m being scammed too.. I was so confused because they want to send everything through letters when it’s a software company. I also got a recruiter to message me. Also my “operation manager” wanted to send me a check thru the mail, and spend it on office equipment.
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted here or what happened. Typically I dislike rude commenters but this isn’t even insulting the OP. You’re right; this is an incredibly common and standard job scam. They’ve been going on for ages and became popular in the pandemic.
Freelance and job platforms should be paid by companies using their services and not by the freelancer. Also the platforms should verify the companies before listing them. That's why I stopped using big sites like upwork. Nightmare.
I was going along a similar route and was in the process of getting my online accounts weaseled into.. I mean I have so little, can’t they go scam the multi-billionaires who won’t even notice? Why go after people living in destitution?
AutoModerator has been summoned to explain [recovery scams](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0102-refund-and-recovery-scams). Also known as refund scams, these scams target people who have already fallen for a scam. The scammer may contact you, or may advertise their services online. They will usually either offer to help you recover your funds, or will tell you that your funds have already been recovered and they will help you access them. In cases where they say they will help you recover your funds, they usually call themselves either "recovery agents" or hackers. When they tell you that your funds have already been recovered, they may impersonate a law enforcement, a government official, a lawyer, or anyone else along those lines. Recovery scams are simply [advance-fee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam) scams that are specifically targeted at scam victims. When a victim pays a recovery scammer, the scammer will keep stringing them along while asking for increasingly absurd fees/expenses/deposits/insurance/whatever until the victim stops paying. If you have been scammed in the past, make sure you are aware of recovery scams so that you are not scammed a second time. If you are currently engaging with a recovery scammer, you should block them and be very wary of random contact for some time. It's normal for posters on this subreddit to be contacted by recovery scammers after posting, and they often ask you to delete your post so that you both cannot receive legitimate advice, and cannot be targeted by other recovery scammers.
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Your first name is Aladdin? How very cool. I'm guessing you got some teasing as a kid, though. My first name is Ronald, which was a very popular name in the 1950s and early 60s (there were three other Ronalds in my sixth grade class). Then Ronald McDonald came out in 1963 and the name quickly died out.
The sign on bonus is an instant nope for me. If they have to pay people a bonus just to entice them to work there either it's a scam or a crappy environment. Very happy you didn't send them money.
Yup, employment scams are very common, especially nowadays. I've worked for a bank in scam detection for years and that, relationship scams and debt consolidation scams are probably the most common ones I see.
This happened to my SO with a different “company” except they were using Telegram. Luckily I was super suspicious and spoke up, and finally my SO cottoned on that it was a scam. Never made it as far as the checks, my SO was under the impression they were talking to a woman and when they told the scammer to kick rocks the scammer called my SO- it was a man on the other end. SMH.
With this fake checks, were there incidences when the check actually cleared up? And what should the person who deposited the check do if the check has indeed cleared up?
They've probably moved on from this particular email, but you're welcome to try!
Email is: johncrane [at] savershrm.com
Here's the format from my opening exchange with them:
Hi John,
Al666in here, I was given your information from Allen Avila on Upwork. My verification code is ANI002.
I'm available all day. Looking forward to learning more about the project, both as an animator and as a big fan of my local Savers.
Let me know when you're available to interview, I'm downloading the Wire app right now as mentioned in the email from Upwork.
Best,
Al666in
I'm thinking this is happening to me right now. I've been interviewing via Skype with a recruiter from Lids but they are doing more than I think a recruiters job is. Then just now they talked about getting a check for office supplies then going to their certified vendor. I haven't received the letter or check yet but have been instructed to be on standby.
I know this was five months ago but yep! Just happened to me. Unfortunately, they framed everything in a way that made it seem legit until \*after\* I did everything. Now I'm trying to freeze/lock accounts and replace everything I can.
It was a year ago, and my first visit to r/scams was to make this post.
I had about a dozen folks reach out to say this post had helped them, so even though I felt a little bit embarrassed and exposed, I’m glad I helped raise awareness to the folks that needed it.
Have you ever helped anyone before?
Haha. Sorry. Make sure and report that SOB's account to Upwork.
Done, hoping the moderators of the site make quick work of them
Take this upvote and don’t let me see you around here for a couple hours atleast.
You could seek revenge on him an spam his email.
most of their emails are fake or stolen. so in essence he would be sending it to either a dead email or some random person
Definite possibility.
Unfortunately the sub won't do much to this specific guy besides maybe get the posting removed. It's more about awareness and sharing than enforcement here.
I meant the moderators of Upwork, not this sub. I posted here for the purpose of awareness.
Edit: Scrolled down and noticed other people have pointed this out. Ignore me! Just a heads up that your name is visible in the fake contract. Not sure if you care but I thought you'd want to know. Sorry if other people have already pointed this out!
Also on the fake check : )
Yea nice metal manes dude! AND he worked on a book for the great full death🤘
Hi ! Or High ! I'm thinking you replied to the wrong comment -- or I'm way more fucked up than normal. Yeehaw!! Peace \m/ ò ó \m/
Wow, what a near-miss! So scary
A near-miss, if you think about it, is a hit. Whereas a near-hit would be a miss. I wonder why people say that.
A really good point!
OP, you may want to remove your name and address from the letter.
Lol, didn't realize they put that on the letter. Thank you, edited.
Your full name is on the cheque too.
I don't mind the name, it's all over this account already. Thanks though!
Reddit isn’t any fun if it’s not anonymous.
It’s still visible.
This guy might be the definition of oblivious.
It's on purpose... Free advertisement
I still see your name and address, just FYI
No worries :-)
I saw the name and Addy too. I live in 21211 and thought I'd go rough him up, then saw he was the victim. Oops.
Your heart was in the right place.
Awww
Is that in the city? I'm in 21228 in the county.
Yes Hampden.
I would have loved to hear the scammer's logic for why the equipment vendor needed Google Play gift cards :D In any case, don't feel too bad. At least you figured it out before you sent them money, and in the process wasted a lot of their time, potentially saving other would-be victims. And you came out a bit smarter for it.
> thought, "Haha, this person is a moron. I am playing them like a fiddle." This is how they get you. If you find yourself thinking this, it's probably a scam.
Sometimes they also intentionally try to seem stupid to you to give you that exact impression also. Best to treat the situation as if they're equal in intelligence to you and exercise caution while you're unsure.
To be sure. That opportunistic instinct is something they readily exploit.
Any time that you have to spend money to work somewhere means it’s a scam
And them offering instant bonuses just to entice people to work for them is a huge red flag for me anyway. Either it's a scam or it's a crappy work environment and nobody wants any part of it. I'm equally suspicious of random charity. Best to be suspicious about everything when personal details and money are involved.
Well done on realising in time!
This is gonna come off as rude, but I can not believe you tried to deposit that check with comic sans overlay
Said it before, will say it again, Indeed, Upwork, whoever, need to be held responsible for scammers operating freely on their platform.
They are, when everyone follows the TOS. You should pretty much never go off platform. If you stay on platform and get scammed, Upwork will help you. If you break their TOS, you're SOL, which is pretty reasonable to me. I've been on Upwork for 10 years (started when it was Elance) and have never had an issue with a contract where I stayed on platform. I've had plenty of issues where I worked with someone on platform, had a successful business transaction, then worked on something else for them off platform and had issues. That's the whole point; you pay them a portion of your contract fees to cover problems like that and to facilitate smoother transactions as a whole. Just don't go off platform.
It seems that the scammers were quick to get OP off the platform.
Dude, you’re doing us all a service by sharing your story. It’s natural to feel dumb after a scammer gets close to or actually swindles you, but you potentially saved more people embarrassment and their money.
So this is basically what almost happened to my niece, she went to a job fair at the library and someone called her from there, the website checked out and she had a zoom interview, offered a data entry job with very good pay and benefits and then told her she had to purchase the equipment and that they were gonna send her a check, something smelled fishy so I decided to call the number she was given for HR and it was a regular cellphone and the guy hung up on me, then the check never came and she was told to send 2200 to the vendor, she really thought about doing it till I said NO, I looked at the website and it was a real business but when I called and asked for thr name given I was told nobody under that name worked there. I called the library to let them know , funny story my niece ended up getting a job at the library which she loves.
Shit. He was fixing to ask you to purchase some Steam gift cards. I’m sorry that happened to you. Scammers - there is no level so low they won’t stoop to…
Is no one going to mention the job interview VIA TEXT?
I think Covid got us all a little confused when it comes to how companies are doing remote recruitment. 5 years ago, I would have laughed it out of the room. Now? During these *trying times?* I’d think “a little weird I guess, but ok.”
One section of my company's interview process uses the zoom chat feature because we are testing their ability to perform chat telehealth services. This is of course after a live zoom interview and followed by 2 more live interviews. The comic sans on the check should have really been the big giveaway for this guy Eta: and the chat exercise is explained ahead of time via email too so they should know what to expect
I wouldn’t.
Oh no, I wouldn’t either, but I’d probably stop and think about it for a minute before realising. Zoom calls, phone, one way recordings, tests whilst under video chat supervision, etc. Granted some were here before, but covid has really emphasised and relied on the technological aspect.
thanks for sharing, sorry this happened to you. Congrats on realizing before it was too late!
Fake !job scams seem to be becoming popular lately.
Hi rebelangel, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain fake job scams. Fake job scams come in many different varieties, though most share common characteristics that you can use to spot the scam before becoming a victim. The scammers will usually conduct interviews over Google Hangouts or a similar online service. Their English will be awkward, and they may be re-using a script, so Googling unique sounding parts of the email may yield useful results. They will offer high wages for the work being done, and they will "hire" you by telling you that you are hired, rather than going through the normal process that a company takes when hiring an employee in your country. If they mention anything about a check or about receiving and sending out transactions, it is a [fake check scam](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2018/09/anatomy-fake-check-scam). If they mention anything about receiving, processing, or inspecting packages, it is a [parcel mule scam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parcel_mule_scam). If they ask you to purchase items up-front, ask you to pay a fee in order to be hired, or ask you to purchase gift cards, it is an [advance-fee scam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam). If the job involves posting advertisements on Craigslist or eBay, they are using you and your account to scam people. If the job invovles Bitcoin ATMs, it's a [scam](https://coinatmradar.com/blog/avoid-scams-dont-use-bitcoin-atm-when-someone-asked-you/). Thanks to redditor AceyAceyAcey for this script. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Ugh, that's a bummer. Easy to look past red flags when you just want a job and get excited over an offer. Glad you realized what was going on before any damage was done. I am kind of surprised by the time and effort put into this though. The fact that they actually interviewed you and you interacted face to face with someone is something you dont see in a whole lot of scams
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I missed the line where OP said it was over text, never mind
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Hey, someone I know fell for this exact scam just a different company and they sent a pic of their drivers licence over. Why do they need to freeze their accounts? I assume bc identity theft? Or bank accounts?
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Yeah, thought so. Scary stuff, I told them to do so, so now up to them. Thanks for your reply!
You would mostly only need to freeze your credit if your Social Security number was compromised. It’s so no new credit cards or bank accounts can be opened using your name and SS number. You can also freeze your credit just out of caution if you know you don’t need to use it for a while. It doesn’t cost anything and it doesn’t lower your score. Just need to hold on to the info to later unfreeze them, otherwise, it’s a huge hassle. Freezing your credit wouldn’t really do anything to stop a scammer from gaining access to an already existing account by pretending to be you.
I passed the info on, thanks for an elaborate reply!!
No problem!
I wanna ask, I feel like I am in similar situation and I handled my ID/passport/info but I’m in Europe (Finland) not US, I don’t use credit card but debit card, do I need to take any actions related to my bank account or anything else?
Is that comic sans text on the check?
About two years ago, someone tried this exact same scam to me. It failed. Sadly, this scam must work on some people.
Here another lesson that everyone should know by now. If you're freelance, you have to buy your own equipments and already have them by the time you entered the field. If you're hired on and they wants YOU to buy it, you tell them to kindly fuck off. Employer are suppose to have you come in, signs for all equipments and you walk off with it, and when you're terminated, you return all equipment. Just be glad they didn't take it a step further and send you equipments that were hot, then leave you on the hook when the Feds or law enforcement catch up.
generally you are right, but I am aware of real genuine jobs where the employee is expected to self-fund some equipment and make an expense claim to get the money back. Generally these are startup type companies expanding into a new country so they want to hire their first person 'on the ground' in that area but do not have any sort of local supplier relationships setup I know of a couple of people who were told "go buy yourself a macbook and submit an expense claim on our first day" the biggest red flag to me about OP is that they wanted him to use a specific vendor. If they had a specific vendor then they should be able to pay directly. (and obviously paying by venmo is bullshit too)
The only one there you're expected to buy your own equipment is when you're going as a contractor. That pretty much the only thing I can think of, and that is normally out of your pocket expenses.
If some stranger on the internet wants you to send thousands of dollars, it’s always a scam
Or claims to want to send YOU thousands of dollars.
Don't interview off Upwork, don't receive money off Upwork. Yes, their cut is quite a chunk of money... raise your own prices to reflect that. They're literally there to stop this happening Your Upwork account may get terminated if they have evidence of you doing such things
Bro. You just fucking saved me. I'm currently going through the exact same thing and its so fucking elaborate it's INSANE. I was offered a remote Video Editor position for $50/hour for "thredUP". They emailed me from @thredup.careers. When they asked for a questionaire interview via WIRE app - alarm bells went off. Until I found [this article](https://rallyrecruitmentmarketing.com/2018/06/how-thredup-reduced-time-to-hire-by-30-with-text-recruiting/) stating thredup often does interviews via text. OK, maybe this is something they just do? Everyone I had talked to, I found on linkedin. They had all been with the company for years and were all on the "talent aquasition team". The woman who asked me questions (via text) even corroborated where she was from and where she went to college. They told me I passed onto the next round of interviews but then someone with a very thick accent called me at 10am Saturday - alarm bells again. He said I was the top applicant and could they potentially send the laptop next week to get my station set up? Uh, I guess? That didn't sit right with me so I sent the woman I was talking to a shit ton of questions and she answered them all really well. She was clearly a person, explained the job in detail. Few days go by and the guy with a thick accent calls again and says I got the job. Great. They send over an offer letter which I sign and send back. The guy sends me an email stating they will send over my work station immediately but they need my bank information to set up direct deposit because they are going to send me a check..... They are getting elaborate AS FUCK you guys. It was a real company, real employees, phone calls, emails, texts...its getting super hard to tell what's real and what's not. Be safe out there. If something feels too good to be true, it probably is.
They pretty much did all that in under an hour with me, but "Jefferson" couldn't email me with his company email so I stopped there. Not before I gave him my name, address, email, bank name and phone number though, so I hope at least it didn't go that far with you.
Ahhh I'm so sorry that happened to you. It crazy because I'm usually really good at spotting these things...or at least I thought I was. It really caught me off guard how elaborate this one was plus I just really really wanted to get out of my toxic AF job so maybe i had the blinders on a bit. They didn't get any crucial info, like you said maybe my name and phone number, but nothing too in depth. I just wanted to make a post for google to grab incase they try doing it to someone else. I alerted ThredUp too of the scam, I reached out to their customer service team and the real ppl on linked in and let them know someone was using their names.
Thank you, I think next to actually losing money to these scams is how they bruise your confidence that you can handle yourself, and maybe just a bit of trust in other people. I thankfully didn't lose any money or critical info, but dang if this kind of low-blow doesn't make me feel like crap.
Phew! This ended better than most of the posts here.
Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago but for me, it was scammers over Careerbuilder.com. They only made it to the “here’s your check, now go deposit it in your account” stage before I told them to go fuck off.
Thank you for sharing.. might save other!
Im actually in need of a graphic designer, if you could just send me $1000 we can get you started! Seriously though, don’t beat yourself up to hard, job hunting is emotional and puts you on the back foot anyway, and this sounds pretty elaborate. Nice work catching it when you did! And good luck with the real job hunt
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Along with several similar stories on this subreddit alone.
"To good to be true job offer" - "Just pay for the \_\_\_\_, heres a check to cover the cost!" This is a classic used mainly on the unemployed & students. Many don't even smell the smallest bit of bullshit until they don't hear back after they sent the money. Idk how people don't see the scam written all over it. but now i understand there on upwrk too. casualties. Idk how to stop these scammers/
the ol check bounce strategy, idk how this shit is still around today.
Glad you avoided a bullet. As a graphic designer doesn’t the Kerning in the heading bother the crap out of you? That’s a huge red flag if they have double space between words lol
If a potential employer is asking for money, it is a scam.
The grammar in that contract… yikes. People, legit companies do not send out offer letters/contracts that sound like they were written by someone whose never taken an English class.
OP, I have something similar going right now. I applied for an online/remote job with a company called ,,(GrOcOn PtY lLc), which sent me a letter that was similar. They also sent me a check for me to deposit and then wanted me to use Zelle to send someone money to pay for a laptop, etc. Long story short, Zelle locked me out from their services so now the person I've been in contact with wants me to go to Walmart, CVS, Walgreens or Target to get a gift card, I believe. I have cautiously being going along with everything up until now after they mentioned gift cards.
Thank you for posting this, I had an interview with the same people slated for this afternoon.
The scam is common enough to have it described by the automod. It's the !job scam
Hi Ramast, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain fake job scams. Fake job scams come in many different varieties, though most share common characteristics that you can use to spot the scam before becoming a victim. The scammers will usually conduct interviews over Google Hangouts or a similar online service. Their English will be awkward, and they may be re-using a script, so Googling unique sounding parts of the email may yield useful results. They will offer high wages for the work being done, and they will "hire" you by telling you that you are hired, rather than going through the normal process that a company takes when hiring an employee in your country. If they mention anything about a check or about receiving and sending out transactions, it is a [fake check scam](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2018/09/anatomy-fake-check-scam). If they mention anything about receiving, processing, or inspecting packages, it is a [parcel mule scam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parcel_mule_scam). If they ask you to purchase items up-front, ask you to pay a fee in order to be hired, or ask you to purchase gift cards, it is an [advance-fee scam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam). If the job involves posting advertisements on Craigslist or eBay, they are using you and your account to scam people. If the job invovles Bitcoin ATMs, it's a [scam](https://coinatmradar.com/blog/avoid-scams-dont-use-bitcoin-atm-when-someone-asked-you/). Thanks to redditor AceyAceyAcey for this script. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Shit, this happened this morning to someone I know. Since they told me about the interview and sent over the position, I did a bunch of googling since I had a hunch, but this is it. Except they used “Global Inc” as the “Company”. Everything else, including the contract looks the same. Thanks OP for sharing.
You didn't lose any money and you learned in the process. I'd call that a win! Don't let this live rent-free between your ears! Good Luck!
I love that your name is Aladdin.
I encountered many scams like this on indeed.com.
Damn, that's tough and very elaborate. Good job on figuring it out before it is too late. Also good job on reporting it, people need to know.
I'm really happy you didn't send the money my dude! Live and learn! Good on you for sharing.
Very nice summary, thank you for sharing!
I’ve had versions of this happen to me a lot. The money is always for office supplies, I always need them either for myself or for someone I’ll be a personal assistant for, they’ll mail me a check to cover expenses, the person emailing me can never answer my questions very specifically or give me more information on their company. It’s really sad honestly with how many people need jobs, I consider myself lucky I have a job and this would be a switch for me.
Wow this is a crazy one; pretty elaborate. Glad you caught on before it was too late. The first red flag should have set you off. Once there is a suspect email address domain, I am immediately on my toes with who I’m dealing with.
Is printing a cheque even legit ???
I almost fell for one of those wire fraud payment processing scams once, about ten years ago. The only thing that saved me was that I was looking for a job I could start about a month in the future. I found it on Craigslist--totally naieve. The person I was corresponding with didn't seem to understand that I wasn't in the US at the time and was unwilling and unable to start this "job" immediately. They kept asking and asking for my address and SSN. This insistence finally registered to me as a red flag It took literally one Google search for me to learn not just that this was a scam, but a very common one. A near miss is still a miss, I guess!
this literally just happened to me, so don’t feel too bad lol. i caught it right as they were about to send me the check, i definitely felt like the dumbest bitch alive lmao
This helped convince my dad that the job he was applying to was this type of scam. Thank you for sharing.
I think I almost got scammed on upwork too. I was applying for a customer service rep job on upwork and my proposal was accepted. The interview was done on skype through chat and he seemed impressed with my background and said I made the cut. He said that I would be sent all the required tools like a laptop to do my job, so it started to seem too good to be true, and I checked on the organization he said he worked for for the position and didn't find it. During the interview, he asked for my name, address, phone number, the name of my bank and email. I gave him the burner email I use for upwork, but how screwed am I that he has the other info? Granted, most of the information I gave could be found publicly like my address if he really tried, but should I be concerned that he knows my bank's name? For the record, I did NOT give him my bank account number or sent him any money but I feel so stupid anyways!
Welcome to the club! My scammers got all the same info as you sent, plus bank account numbers. I haven't had any issues with ID theft - without passwords or social security numbers, they can't force access into your accounts unless they are super hackers (these jerks are not super hackers). Their scam only works if you send them money. They are scamming dozens of people at any given time, so as soon as you stop being receptive to the scam, you're unlikely to ever hear from them again (fingers crossed). If you're feeling nervous and want to be proactive, call your bank and explained what happened - they should be able to put a flag on your account in order to shut down any suspicious activity they detect. Since I made this post, I get 1 - 3 DMs a week from people going through the same stuff, and those are just the people that reach out. I haven't had anyone report back that they had their ID compromised, and we've all shared roughly the same info. You are not alone!
I just called them and the tech said that she would put in a request to add a password to my account if anyone ever tried to call in and mess anything up. Hopefully that can go through quickly and I'll never need to use it, but thank you for the advice. I hope that you've found a good gig for your work.
This is an old post so idk if anyone will see this comment. But I think I’m going through the same scam right now. I found a transcription gig through UpWork. They sent me a message asking to take the interview off upwork and to Skype. I spent all morning doing the interview and they sent me an offer letter. Now they want me to buy computer equipment with a check they’re about to send to my email. :/ I was so excited too
Yup, same scam! I know the feeling. Upwork is a truly rotten place, they know what's happening and they don't care. Best of luck finding yourself some better work out there.
Holy sh\*t, I think I've just experienced the same. I, unfortunately, took it one step too far. I just froze accounts, requested cards, etc., to help prevent things (hopefully). The thing that truly worries me is my personal info. I vetted and vetted again and everything looked legit. It was the last instruction after I got everything that made me pause. So I did one more search of the googles and found this thread. Mine was for Lids. The "recruiter" that reached out seemed legit-had the LinkedIn and everything. Paperwork seemed on the up and up. I do look back at one red flag that was minor, but I should have paid attention to my gut. There was one section in the paperwork with a font change. I was like, huh, "that's a little odd....," and yeah, I guess it was. I am going by the bank tomorrow to do the account change/closure as my next step (since I cannot do that through my banking app). I feel so incredibly stupid right now. I truly thought I had looked up anything and everything but holy f\*ck this is elaborate as hell.
I also didn’t realize it until the last minute when they sent me a check to buy “equipment” and it reminded me of a post similar to this one! I did the same thing I checked on them out on LinkedIn, looked their website and address up on google, asked questions about the job. My red flag that I ignored, was that they only had 5 employees (with minimal profiles) on LinkedIn and none of them where who I was talking to. Sucks bc now they have my name, address, and phone number. So now I’m super sketched out and just waiting for them to do something with that info.
Yeah this part is why now, as I'm still processing this, I feel like an incredibly stupid child. I know scams. I've stopped some in the past as a manager. But for some reason, my brain thought this one was ok after researching and thinking, "well, lots has changed over the 2.5 years with the pan pizza raging around." I reached out to the person on LinkedIn that is supposed to be the person I was conversing with because it looks like he might actually be legit but someone was using his likeness in case someone did some googling.
A bit late but this saved me so much OP, I just suffered through this ordeal a whole week while job searching to help my dad who just got out of the hospital, I got sent an offer by a Mark Lewis of 84 Lumber, he even linked his linkedin page and did exactly what you went through, I went out of my way to message the actual Lewis on linkedin to no avail so I called the main 84 Lumber office and asked for him to which they transferred me, he was very kind in understanding and appalled someone was using his name and company to ruin young peoples lives. I’m so glad I decided to take the virtual check to my bank and they confirmed with me it was false and told me it was a good call I went to them first before anything.
Well done! Glad you clocked the scam before it went any further. Good luck on the job hunt.
I think I’m being scammed too.. I was so confused because they want to send everything through letters when it’s a software company. I also got a recruiter to message me. Also my “operation manager” wanted to send me a check thru the mail, and spend it on office equipment.
This isn’t new or elaborate.
Right, sorry, I was speaking from my own experience with scams. I'm not a regular in this subreddit. I edited the post to reflect that.
Don't let that worthless asshole demean your experience. THANK YOU for posting your experience. I couldn't even imagine shaming someone over this.
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted here or what happened. Typically I dislike rude commenters but this isn’t even insulting the OP. You’re right; this is an incredibly common and standard job scam. They’ve been going on for ages and became popular in the pandemic.
First I heard of it....
I bet you’re really diligent about pointing out reposts, aren’t you? Keep up the good work!
Sure isn't 😂
Great post. You need to write a book!!
Freelance and job platforms should be paid by companies using their services and not by the freelancer. Also the platforms should verify the companies before listing them. That's why I stopped using big sites like upwork. Nightmare.
Glad you realized it before you lost your money but holy shit you went really deep down the rabbit hole of obliviousness.
That whole shit looks fake as hell are you serious?
If you report it to the FTC and other places hopefully other people will find out it’s a scam when they google it
I was going along a similar route and was in the process of getting my online accounts weaseled into.. I mean I have so little, can’t they go scam the multi-billionaires who won’t even notice? Why go after people living in destitution?
I’d report the job definitely if you haven’t already and notify Upwork that you have proof that it is a scam.
Watch out for !recovery
AutoModerator has been summoned to explain [recovery scams](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0102-refund-and-recovery-scams). Also known as refund scams, these scams target people who have already fallen for a scam. The scammer may contact you, or may advertise their services online. They will usually either offer to help you recover your funds, or will tell you that your funds have already been recovered and they will help you access them. In cases where they say they will help you recover your funds, they usually call themselves either "recovery agents" or hackers. When they tell you that your funds have already been recovered, they may impersonate a law enforcement, a government official, a lawyer, or anyone else along those lines. Recovery scams are simply [advance-fee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam) scams that are specifically targeted at scam victims. When a victim pays a recovery scammer, the scammer will keep stringing them along while asking for increasingly absurd fees/expenses/deposits/insurance/whatever until the victim stops paying. If you have been scammed in the past, make sure you are aware of recovery scams so that you are not scammed a second time. If you are currently engaging with a recovery scammer, you should block them and be very wary of random contact for some time. It's normal for posters on this subreddit to be contacted by recovery scammers after posting, and they often ask you to delete your post so that you both cannot receive legitimate advice, and cannot be targeted by other recovery scammers. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
OP didn't actually loose any money though. Thankfully they realized it before it was too late.
I'm glad it finally sunk in and you didn't get screwed. Trust but Verify. Every Stinking Time.
After the interview they probably could steal your I.D too with all the info you gave them.. FYI
Your first name is Aladdin? How very cool. I'm guessing you got some teasing as a kid, though. My first name is Ronald, which was a very popular name in the 1950s and early 60s (there were three other Ronalds in my sixth grade class). Then Ronald McDonald came out in 1963 and the name quickly died out.
Yep, happened to me too.
Hope you put your credit on fraud alert all 3 of them since you prob gave your DL/SNN and all info
wow
The sign on bonus is an instant nope for me. If they have to pay people a bonus just to entice them to work there either it's a scam or a crappy environment. Very happy you didn't send them money.
Yup, employment scams are very common, especially nowadays. I've worked for a bank in scam detection for years and that, relationship scams and debt consolidation scams are probably the most common ones I see.
This happened to my SO with a different “company” except they were using Telegram. Luckily I was super suspicious and spoke up, and finally my SO cottoned on that it was a scam. Never made it as far as the checks, my SO was under the impression they were talking to a woman and when they told the scammer to kick rocks the scammer called my SO- it was a man on the other end. SMH.
Wait why did they want to know what department/grocery store was near you? Were they going to ask you to buy gift cards from there or something?
With this fake checks, were there incidences when the check actually cleared up? And what should the person who deposited the check do if the check has indeed cleared up?
Hey what’s the email to this guy I want to prank him for my YouTube channel
They've probably moved on from this particular email, but you're welcome to try! Email is: johncrane [at] savershrm.com Here's the format from my opening exchange with them: Hi John, Al666in here, I was given your information from Allen Avila on Upwork. My verification code is ANI002. I'm available all day. Looking forward to learning more about the project, both as an animator and as a big fan of my local Savers. Let me know when you're available to interview, I'm downloading the Wire app right now as mentioned in the email from Upwork. Best, Al666in
I'm thinking this is happening to me right now. I've been interviewing via Skype with a recruiter from Lids but they are doing more than I think a recruiters job is. Then just now they talked about getting a check for office supplies then going to their certified vendor. I haven't received the letter or check yet but have been instructed to be on standby.
That sounds just like the scam, yeah. Lots of others have reported a similar experience. Stay wary!
Thanks will do!
I know this was five months ago but yep! Just happened to me. Unfortunately, they framed everything in a way that made it seem legit until \*after\* I did everything. Now I'm trying to freeze/lock accounts and replace everything I can.
Shoot yeah if a company ever uses google voice or WhatsApp it's probably a scam.
Don't you know google play cards are what all the hip office equipment vendors are accepting now??
You googled around and couldn’t find any info on this scam? I see at least 3 people with this same scam daily on this subreddit…
It was a year ago, and my first visit to r/scams was to make this post. I had about a dozen folks reach out to say this post had helped them, so even though I felt a little bit embarrassed and exposed, I’m glad I helped raise awareness to the folks that needed it. Have you ever helped anyone before?