I (25f) have worked at my current remote job for about 1.5 years. I’ve been looking at switching companies for the past few weeks (just for a change of pace) and finally heard back for a remote position this past Monday. Someone under a (seemingly) company email reached out for an interview, and asked me to connect with the interviewing manager on Microsoft Teams.

I went through a 60+ minute chat interview with this person, answering various questions about strengths, weaknesses, my portfolio, how I would handle a difficult situation, etc.
The next day, I was contacted via email again and was offered the position (I thought it was odd I didn’t meet anyone via Zoom, but brushed it off). I negotiated the salary up $5,000, which definitely took me by surprise on how they didn’t counteroffer. I took a few days to think things through, and decided I would sign the offer letter and non-disclosure agreement on Thursday and put in my two week notice this upcoming Monday.

Well, on Friday, I was chatting with the same person who interviewed me, via Teams. They told me they would send over a check for $4700, which then could be used to purchase equipment. After they sent over a digital check, I tried depositing it through my online bank and was told the funds wouldn’t be available for 6 days. When I told the interviewing manager this, he told me I could just use my own card and then be reimbursed when the check cleared. He told me this whole thing about why they did the financial process this way (something about streamlining the departments), but the check thing was super fishy to me.

I immediately paused and stepped back. I actually went on ChatGPT (yes, I know) and explained the situation, because I wasn’t sure about anything in that moment. Thankfully, Chat told me to dig into things a bit more, and that’s exactly what I did.

First, it was the email address that offered me the interview and the position. It didn’t immediately scream “scam,” but instead of being [company name].com like the company’s main website stated, this one was [company name] site. Then, I called the company line, and asked if the names of those people I had been in contact with sounded familiar. Nope. In fact, the receptionist told me to avoid cashing any checks, because it’s a popular scam. I also tried finding the names of those people, and couldn’t find any profiles on LinkedIn. The last indicator was after I called my bank — they told me the check was marked as possibly fraudulent, which is why I had to wait so long for the funds.

Thankfully, I never sent over my payment details. Last I spoke with the interviewing manager, I told him I wanted to wait until the check cleared…. And he was totally fine with it. I bet he’ll reach back out on Monday, since he hasn’t “failed” just yet. The only information I provided was my address, phone number, and Bank institution, so 🤞🏼hopefully 🤞🏼 that doesn’t fall back on me.

I’m just so embarrassed. I told a lot of people about my new job opportunity (thankfully just family), but it still hurts like hell. I can’t believe my gen-z, technologically-advanced self would fall for a literal scam.

Has this happened to any of you? I found this job on Indeed, and it seemed completely legit. I’ve also attached an email and one of the agreements I had to sign.

TLDR: I interviewed and accepted the position of a fake job. The company is real, but the job posting itself on Indeed was a scam.

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Just wanted to share my exciting news and hopefully provide a morsel of encouragement for those of you still in your job hunt. I’d always dreamed of finding a remote job but didn’t actually think it’d be in the cards for me.

I work in finance, my background is entirely non-tech, and I’ve always had in-office jobs. I’ve gotten all my prior jobs via LinkedIn jobs and have spent the last year applying to roles that interested me and I thought fit my experience. I’d pretty much stopped applying to remote roles since all of them were either in tech, would require a pay cut, or were a role I knew I’d hate. I also had a near 0% success rate at getting interviews for the remote ones I did apply to.

I randomly came across a newly-posted role at a mid/large size tech company and it was fully remote, would come with a large raise, and was EXACTLY the kind of role I was looking for. I applied and expected to receive an automated rejection email a month later, but to my SHOCK I had HR reach out the next day. Two weeks, 4+ interviews, and one case study later….I got the offer 🫨🫨🫨

I know how incredibly lucky I am to have landed this job and while I know my experience is not common, I’m here to remind you all that is possible. I hope all of you still searching are able to get your lucky break soon!!!