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What to know about a fake job scam impersonating Gitlab

42 points by mikece 3y ago

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
I was hired 3 years ago at the height of pandemic lockdowns, and I was nearly convinced I'd been caught in a scam. I fielded a call from a recruiter, who identified her company immediately, and we had a chat, and the whole time in the back of my mind I was wondering, where did I find you and when did I send an application? And I checked my log where I'd meticulously recorded every application, and this company wasn't there. So it was hinky from the get-go. And of course, everything was over phone and Zoom and I never met anyone in person. I didn't even know that they had a satellite office a few miles away from me, because I wouldn't be working there. And it was originally an in-person job but due to lockdowns, all of them had turned virtual, so it was WFH, Zoom only. And I had a tech interview that went well, got a job offer, signed legit-looking contract (well it wasn't a contract, it was an Offer of Employment) and meanwhile I'd checked out the corporate website and it all seemed totally legit and plausible. Then I waited. And my start date was about 2 months out, and I waited and waited. And nobody was contacting me, there was no onboarding going on, even though I was aware of a ton of apps and tech I'd need to get acquainted with. And I sent a few emails and they assured me they were working on it, and things were getting kind of grim - there was a fire down the hallway and they almost turned off my electrical power for weeks at a time. I was losing faith and hope. At one point my supervisor Zoomed me and wanted me to hold up my passport to the camera, and I declined because I just didn't feel comfortable sharing that over Zoom in particular. But that was alright. And then suddenly the onboarding started and I was drinking from the firehose and it got real. And of course my first paycheck arrived and it was all 100% legit. And I was sorry that I ever doubted. But yeah, companies, please help us authenticate you. Job seekers are subjected to a lot of scammy things, because as job seekers, we can be desperate, we can be hopeful, and yeah, gullible sometimes. So we need reassurance. I'm thankful to GitLab for documenting all of this and exposing an elaborate scam so that others can be aware it really can happen to them.
liorben-david 3y ago
That is ridiculously elaborate
- tetris11 3y ago
  Is it? They make a few small asks, like joining them for a meeting, making a dedicated gmail account, and then -wham- thousands of dollars as a down payment for a fancy machine.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
vidyesh 3y ago
This isn't new, is it? These kind of job scams in IT have been around for a while, just prevalent in the remote/hybrid era. Some scams even ask you to buy certain equipment for work, send you a proof of sent check that is more than your requested amount, even before you could ask it or receive it you are asked to send the excess amount back. At this point if a job offer is too good and the process feels too easy, a lot of due diligence is required. Either way, its good to know companies recognize this and warn everyone. Most times such stories are from people who get scammed and do not get the needed exposure.
ttoinou 3y ago
Who would pay to get a job ?
- atraac 3y ago
  If there's a scam for it, then someone probably would. I think we'd be surprised with the amount of people from poorer countries who are desperate enough to do this. Especially when coding bootcamps are so popular now with non-technical people who are promised mountains-of-gold-level salaries.

42 points by mikece 3y ago

I was hired 3 years ago at the height of pandemic lockdowns, and I was nearly convinced I'd been caught in a scam. I fielded a call from a recruiter, who identified her company immediately, and we had a chat, and the whole time in the back of my mind I was wondering, where did I find you and when did I send an application? And I checked my log where I'd meticulously recorded every application, and this company wasn't there. So it was hinky from the get-go. And of course, everything was over phone and Zoom and I never met anyone in person. I didn't even know that they had a satellite office a few miles away from me, because I wouldn't be working there. And it was originally an in-person job but due to lockdowns, all of them had turned virtual, so it was WFH, Zoom only. And I had a tech interview that went well, got a job offer, signed legit-looking contract (well it wasn't a contract, it was an Offer of Employment) and meanwhile I'd checked out the corporate website and it all seemed totally legit and plausible. Then I waited. And my start date was about 2 months out, and I waited and waited. And nobody was contacting me, there was no onboarding going on, even though I was aware of a ton of apps and tech I'd need to get acquainted with. And I sent a few emails and they assured me they were working on it, and things were getting kind of grim - there was a fire down the hallway and they almost turned off my electrical power for weeks at a time. I was losing faith and hope. At one point my supervisor Zoomed me and wanted me to hold up my passport to the camera, and I declined because I just didn't feel comfortable sharing that over Zoom in particular. But that was alright. And then suddenly the onboarding started and I was drinking from the firehose and it got real. And of course my first paycheck arrived and it was all 100% legit. And I was sorry that I ever doubted. But yeah, companies, please help us authenticate you. Job seekers are subjected to a lot of scammy things, because as job seekers, we can be desperate, we can be hopeful, and yeah, gullible sometimes. So we need reassurance. I'm thankful to GitLab for documenting all of this and exposing an elaborate scam so that others can be aware it really can happen to them.

liorben-david 3y ago

That is ridiculously elaborate

tetris11 3y ago
Is it? They make a few small asks, like joining them for a meeting, making a dedicated gmail account, and then -wham- thousands of dollars as a down payment for a fancy machine.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

vidyesh 3y ago

This isn't new, is it? These kind of job scams in IT have been around for a while, just prevalent in the remote/hybrid era. Some scams even ask you to buy certain equipment for work, send you a proof of sent check that is more than your requested amount, even before you could ask it or receive it you are asked to send the excess amount back. At this point if a job offer is too good and the process feels too easy, a lot of due diligence is required. Either way, its good to know companies recognize this and warn everyone. Most times such stories are from people who get scammed and do not get the needed exposure.

ttoinou 3y ago

Who would pay to get a job ?

atraac 3y ago
If there's a scam for it, then someone probably would. I think we'd be surprised with the amount of people from poorer countries who are desperate enough to do this. Especially when coding bootcamps are so popular now with non-technical people who are promised mountains-of-gold-level salaries.