TL;DR I got "hired" as a Remote Software Engineer by someone posing as AutoNation
and was supposed to be shipped office supplies but "issues" cropped up leading me to
cash a fake check and almost
wire
transfer ~$9k to buy office supplies from their "vendor", but I snapped out of it at the last minute!
They sent fake check via UPS(1 day ship plan)
that would not clear in 7 days and time
pressure
you to cash it in and then wire them.
My state of mind at the time:
Here are a bunch of reasons why I, someone who ignores various phishing emails from USPS
and various others over the past several years, almost managed to fall to a job scam.
I'm not too well accustomed with the job hiring process. I only had 1 other job before this which
was not a big software engineering gig.
Got the flu the week I was hired
Brand new WORK ONLY EMAIL, I only ever used on indeed. No one knows this email
exists,
which
made me
think low chance of scam.
I trusted indeed in that they actually audit employers before they let them post.
I'd
expect
craigslist
not to but
indeed/linkedin? NOPE THEY DO NOT AUDIT/VERIFY EMPLOYERS? EDIT: I looked back at my
job application history and it turns out I never applied here in the first place. Ohh the pitfalls
of spamming resumes. Whoever got a hold of
this email I can only assume came from indeed? Or something else I'm not aware of...
Less than 5 hours of sleep per day for past the week I was hired because of the flu and waking up at
6AM
PST
to
match their 9AM EST. Once I wake up, I often can't fall back asleep.
I mass sent out applications on indeed that I sorta lost track of them! So used to
getting ghosted, not to mention I was very busy.
STUPID busy in the middle of writing a big patch for my game, in the
programming-zone, I wanted to
get
it
done before I leave for work in case work was too heavy, which lead to a lot of quick skimming.
My attitude was that of renewing my drivers license at the DMV. Ugh, just get this all done
already, I'll adapt to whatever situation arises but atm I'm
on a bit of roll right now finally getting some headway on my game project. I'll just try n dedicate
at least an hour to brush up on some of their listed
topics.
Looking forward to the job since I've never worked in software as a team, so I skipped half the
interview questions relating to team dev(red flag I know but I thought it wasn't a big deal, learn
it on
the
job! Their company software dev reviews seem so nice)
Company Software Dev reviews were pretty
nice and welcoming. Kinda weird they aren't testing me at least a little on C# or w.e the
job is
requiring but I guess maybe this is why they have high reviews? Onboarding is easy and they treat
software
devs not as leetcode monkeys but as actual adaptable humans. Still very weird
though....
I saw a ton of red flags in regards to grammar and spelling but brushed it off,
maybe it was just some
foreign
recruiter, whatever, I make typos all the time. I mindlessly skimmed and autocorrect as I read.
Can you even fake a check these days? Like no sane person would ever want to
fake a
$100 bill, all the
green
ink,
cotton paper, watermarks, and being on the run is WAY too much. Surely we have as much advanced
check
counterfiet detection tech as we do the dollar check! Who would even risk it?! (We do but their fake
check
clears in 7
days and they try to time pressure you).
I'm
gaining money and benefits from the job, I'm gaining money from
this check, the thought of loss did not enter my mind until I had to wire back.
Why did @gmail email not throw you off? I had just watched a bunch of youtube interview vids where
some advice given was to cut the middleman,
go find
the recruiters email directly! So I thought I got lucky that this recruiter is giving
me their
personal email. This guy was actually the VP
Why did the poser Marc Cannon, the
executive
vice president, interviewing you not raise flags? I did look him up and found it a bit odd but my
previous job was a small company of 50-200 had the CEO interviewing me so it wasn't too weird. I
thought huh, maybe they're short staffed atm.
I didn't even know job scams existed till now! Let alone ever use
the two words in
a sentence before.
THEY COULD NOT HAVE PICKED A BETTER OPPERTUNITY TO SCAM SOMEONE GIVEN ALL THE REASONS
ABOVE! Well, if I had kids that'd raise the probability higher...
The details:
Here is all the email exchange, google chat logs, receipts, and timestamps.
The email exchange:
Download the interview questions pdf. I skipped half the
questions
relating to team software dev and communicating in a team
JEST <myemail@gmail.com>
AutoNation Remote software engineer
12 messages
JEST <myemail@gmail.com>
30 November 2022 at 17:48
From: AutoNation . autonation@applyonlineworks.com
via sender.zohorecruit.com
Base on your Experience, Happy to inform you that you're
among
the
applicants selected for an online
interview
on Thursday DEC 1st.
The interview is scheduled for Thursday 12/01/2022 from 8AM
EST
to
4PM EST. You're to contact the Corporate
HR
representative Marc Cannon Ap. On Email at (
aprylhtks@gmail.com
)
to confirm and acknowledge the receipt of
this email and to schedule your interview and confirm your
availability for the interview. You are to be
available on Email ASAP for the interview on Thurs, Your
swift
and
timely response to this position matters
a
lot as the job interview starts between 8am to 4pm EST,
Contact
Marc
Cannon Ap to let him know your
Availability
between this time. Have a great Evening.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
All the best
HR TEAM
AutoNation
JEST <myemail@gmail.com>
30 November 2022 at 17:48
To: aprylhtks@gmail.com
Hello! I am here to schedule my
appointment I
will be available starting 9 AM to 4PM tomorrow on
12/01/22.
Thank you again for your interest in employment at
AutoNation,
We
are
recruiting via online potential employees who would
eventually
have
an
office space at home for Software Engineer - Remote.
We have carefully considered your application during the
initial
screening and will now proceed to administer a Screening
test/Interview for you.
In order for us to move ahead with the selection process,
please
reply
to this email to confirm your details as follows:
Name :
Phone Number :
City and State Location:
I will email you the Screening Test/Interview Questions as
soon
I
receive your email with the above details.
Thank you
[Quoted text hidden]
JEST <myemail@gmail.com>
1 December 2022 at 09:24
To: Marc Cannon <callhrr@gmail.com>
Name: JEST
Phone Number:
MYPHONENUMBER
City and State Location: SOMEWHERE
[Quoted text hidden]
Marc Cannon <callhrr@gmail.com>
1 December 2022 at 09:25
To: JEST <myemail@gmail.com>
Thank you for your information.
Please find attached the Screening test/Interview Questions
for
the
Screening/Interview process. Keep in mind that there are no
‘right
answers'.
The Screening test/Interview Questions are designed to gauge
your
skills and give us an idea of how you approach tasks
relevant to
the
Software Engineer - Remote role. Answer any of those
questions
the
way
you can, You are required to email back your answers to me
within
the
next 90 minutes.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any
questions.
Best of luck with the test,
[Quoted text hidden]
Marc Cannon <callhrr@gmail.com>
1 December 2022 at 10:47
To: JEST <myemail@gmail.com>
I acknowledge the receipt of your answers.
Our team will review your answers and forward the same to
the
Hiring
Board for their decision and I will get back to you with
feedback
from
the Board's decision within 3 hours, Kindly continue to
check
your
email within this time for response.
You will be having a virtual meeting with a representative
from
the
HR
department immediately you complete your proper
documentation as
our
newly recruited employee to discuss further on your job
offer
and
attend to your questions.
This is going to be strictly an online remote (work from
home)
job
and
the working hours are flexible which means you can choose to
work
from
anytime of your choice. This is a full time job with 40
hours
guaranteed.
Furthermore you will be undergoing training before you start
working
fully which will be between 5-7 days if you are hired at the
end
of
this process.
How much do you want to be considered for this job hourly
?
Let me know when you received this email and reply back with
desired
pay rate.
[Quoted text hidden]
JEST <myemail@gmail.com>
1 December 2022 at 10:49
To: Marc Cannon <callhrr@gmail.com>
How much do you want to be considered for this
job
hourly ?
$40 an hour is my desired pay rate, thank
you.
[Quoted text hidden]
Marc Cannon <callhrr@gmail.com>
1 December 2022 at 11:28
To: JEST <myemail@gmail.com>
After serious consideration, I am glad to inform
you
that due to your
level of experience and your working skills, AutoNation has
decided
to
hire you as one of our Software Engineer Remote. On behalf
of
our
company, I congratulate you on your achievement. You are now
offered
an opportunity to be part of AutoNation, You will be having
a
virtual
meeting with a representative from the
HR
department immediately you
complete your proper documentation as our newly
recruited
employee.
We believe that your knowledge, skills and experience would
be
an
ideal fit for our creative team and make a significant
contribution
to
the overall success of the Company.
You will be having a virtual meeting with a
representative
from
the HR
department. Immediately you complete your proper
documentation as our
newly recruited employee to discuss
further on
your job offer and
attend to your questions, You will receive your
duties
everyday via
email and I will be online to walk you through your tasks.
You
will
be
undergoing a 5 to 7 days online training, via Skype,
immediately
after
setting up your mini home office.
We are starting you with $45 per hour and you will receive
your
pay
weekly via wire transfer, direct deposit or check, depending
on
which
you prefer. Benefits include: 401(k) matching, Health
and
Dental
Insurance, Employee Wellness and Paid Time Off. You will be
enrolled
for other benefits after a period of 3 months of working
with
us.
We are going to be communicating virtually till after 5 days
of
working with us, subsequently a user and password will be
given
to
you
including an up link to the company server and a list of
contact
phone
numbers to various departments will be sent to you including
all
necessary forms to fill out.
Before you start work, you will receive a payment(check)
which
will
be
used to set up your mini office by purchasing the home
office
equipments and software needed to start your training and
work.
You will be receiving your Employment Offer Letter from HR
via
email
to sign Later on today. Our aim is for you to start training
as
soon
as possible.
For confirmation purposes, kindly forward the following
information
to
enable the HR secretary to register you and prepare your
offer
letter:
Your Legal Name to be on check:
Full Home Address:
APT #
Phone number:
Your Email :
Amount offered you:
what bank do you have account with -
For clarification and Confirmation purposes, please provide
me
with
the same information you sent to the HR email above.
Let me know when that is done so that we can continue with
the
remainder of the briefing.
Congratulations!
Kind Regards.
[Quoted text hidden]
JEST <myemail@gmail.com>
1 December 2022 at 12:22
To: Marc Cannon <callhrr@gmail.com>
Thank you very much. I'm very excited to get
started.
Name: JEST Role: Remote Software
engineer Full Home Address: 1234 1th ave
APT # XL
Phone number:XXXXX
Your Email : myemail@gmail.com
Amount offered you: $45 per hour
what bank do you have account with - Chase
[Quoted text hidden]
Marc Cannon <callhrr@gmail.com>
1 December 2022 at 12:36
To: JEST <myemail@gmail.com>
We look forward to welcoming you to AutoNation,
You
will
be having a
virtual meeting with a representative
from
the
HR department
immediately you complete your proper documentation as
our
newly
recruited employee to discuss further
on
your
job offer and attend to
your questions. Subsequently you will be provided
with
the
payment to
purchase the equipment from the Company's accredited
Vendors.
The
list
of the equipment and supplies in the email with your offer
letter
soon. Kindly keep your eyes on the email so you can sign and
send
back.
After equipment purchase has been made, the Company's
accredited
Vendors will make the delivery of the equipment to you at
your
place
or at a post office near you depending on your
preference.
A
IT
director Lead from the Company will also be assisting you
with
the
equipment set up, however this will be done virtually due to
the
COVID-19 pandemic situation.
Note: Kindly install google chats on your mobile phone and
also
add
me
on google right now for more details about the job. https://chat.google.com/callhrr@gmail.com
Enjoy the rest of your day and please do stay safe .
Kind Regards.
Kindly let me know if you've receive and signed your offer
letter
[Quoted text hidden]
JEST <myemail@gmail.com>
1 December 2022 at 15:00
To: Marc Cannon <callhrr@gmail.com>
I have received and signed my offer letter,
thank
you
very much. Would you prefer I contact you over google
chat
instead of email? Or is either fine?
[Quoted text hidden]
Marc Cannon <callhrr@gmail.com>
1 December 2022 at 15:53
To: JEST <myemail@gmail.com>
add me on google chats
[Quoted text hidden]
Google chats chatlog
PDF signing that I did:
They sent me a check via UPS urgent shipping, I cashed in the check.
With the help of friends and remembering wirefrauds were dangerous from crime shows, I held out and
realized
what was going on, wuv yall
The following emails and domains need to be taken down:
KPRC 2 Investigates: Fake employer on Indeed steals thousands from job applicant
New mom looking for remote work scammed on Indeed
Story Time: scammed on Indeed, An employer on Indeed Scammed Me
Scammers using LinkedIn, Indeed to prey on people searching for employment
They have my drivers license which contains a lot personal information but eh... probably somewhere
based
in india or something, I dunno. I will be moving soon. If you have any advice please
send it to me. Also on the offchance that someone is looking to hire or want to add more to this page,
please
email me:
my contact email: jestarray@gmail
I have already filed a report to the FTC, FBI's internet crime division, etc. Thanks for reading, I
rushed to type this out cause I don't want anyone falling prey to this so there may be typos. Please
share this to spread the word, thank you.
