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Employment scams

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Moofers

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Hey all,

I am about to leave my current employer in Wisconsin and am heading out west to Oregon. I don't have a new job lined up, but I've got a spiffy linked in, and my resume posted on several of the big sites that offer jobs in the field I'm looking for.

Today, I received a call from somebody claiming to be a recruiter for Iconma LLC, saying they wanted to talk to me about a 12-month contract position in my field. What's weird is that he named the company I'd be working for, and mentioned a pay rate that was double what I make now. In my mind I'm hearing the alert sound from the Enterprise bridge, y'know? Sounds pretty scammy.

First off, recruiters don't name who they're hiring for because then the cat is out of the bag and you can go apply without their aid and they get nothing out of it. Second, I know what my position pays. Unless they have some misunderstanding of my qualifications, or the hours are not full-time, I'd be making double what I do now. These days, its hard to imagine anyone being hard up enough to not know what they should be paying employees.

Anyway, I got an email from them about the position and it reads just fine. No mention of hours or pay in the email though. I checked on glass door as well as a watchdog anti-scam forum and somebody had already looked into this company and said they look legit. Still, I can't shake the feeling its all too good to be true.

I'm hoping GAF being the mighty collective that it is, I might learn something new about the company or just hear about similar experiences and how they turned out. Anyone get offers like this before? Did you apply? If so, how'd it go?

And in the spirit of discussion and sharing stories, I'm all about hearing any other tales of scammery that you all might want to share. Thanks in advance!
 
Just today I received a letter from "Vector Marketing" looking for college students. Quick track record shows that their entire company is a complete scam.
 
Recruiters aren't typically worried that you'll just go directly to the company. More than likely, the company simply is using the recruiter by choice. They want to pay a rate and let the recruiting company deal with the paperwork, benefits, etc. And then at the end of the contract period, they want to watch you leave. As far as the recruiter is concerned, the risk is that you have already been submitted to that company by a competing recruitment firm. Many recruiters I know will be vague in an email, but on the phone, they'll flat out say "I have an opportunity with ABC Bank."

But your mileage may vary.
 
Some companies go directly through recruiters instead of accepting resumes. I'd only be concerned if they asked you for money. They get paid by the company, not you.
 
Thanks for this, so far. I think part of my concern might stem from confusion between recruiters and staffing agencies. I think I get it now though. So long as they don't want me to pay for something up front, I figured I'd entertain all ideas of interviews, etc.
 
faint. said:
Just today I received a letter from "Vector Marketing" looking for college students. Quick track record shows that their entire company is a complete scam.
Click to expand...

No kidding? This is interesting. What did they want from you? Did they ask for money, or how far did you go in your communications with them?
 
Moofers said:
Thanks for this, so far. I think part of my concern might stem from confusion between recruiters and staffing agencies. I think I get it now though. So long as they don't want me to pay for something up front, I figured I'd entertain all ideas of interviews, etc.
Click to expand...

Correct. If things start heading south and they want you to pay them or the job turns out to be selling knock-off cologne door to door, then bail out.

I'd be more concerned that if you think they are overpaying, you might be right, or you might need to recalibrate to the target job area. Either way, doublecheck your qualifications against whatever requirements they have.
 
double seems high, but sometimes contract work pays more than full time salaried work since the company doesnt usually pay a full complement of benefits.

as far as comparing your qualifications to the job's requirements, i assume there will be some interview and vetting process, rather than the company hiring you based on some staffing agency's recommendation if the contract is a full year.
 
faint. said:
Just today I received a letter from "Vector Marketing" looking for college students. Quick track record shows that their entire company is a complete scam.
Click to expand...



Same exact thing at my school. I don't think they should even be allowed to 'recruit' at schools. They're very vague and don't tell you about the job before the interview.
 
faint. said:
Just today I received a letter from "Vector Marketing" looking for college students. Quick track record shows that their entire company is a complete scam.
Click to expand...
Ugh, one of my friends fell for this and tried to get me to let him to schedule an "appointment" with my folks. He also gave them my boyfriend's number without asking because they're asked for contact information for more potential employees. And of course, any time I would tell this friend it was a scam, he would get super defensive and say he would never fall for such a thing. :/
 
Had some scammy offers, some trying to get me to pay them for a job and others trying to steal personal info.

Then there are the pyramid scheme folks, which is a whole 'nother stupid level of scam bullshit. Durrr sell energy drinks to your friends to sell to other people, make thousands a day! Right.
 
faint. said:
Just today I received a letter from "Vector Marketing" looking for college students. Quick track record shows that their entire company is a complete scam.
Click to expand...

holy shit, they're still around!?

Moofers said:
No kidding? This is interesting. What did they want from you? Did they ask for money, or how far did you go in your communications with them?
Click to expand...

no, never fall for this scummy company (unless you like selling knives)
 
faint. said:
Just today I received a letter from "Vector Marketing" looking for college students. Quick track record shows that their entire company is a complete scam.
Click to expand...
Someone at my community college writes notes on the whiteboards telling people to apply to Vector Marketing for perfect student jobs. I don't know if it's a teacher or a student. The three times I've seen it, I've written a note under it warning people. Nothing lengthy, just a simple "watch out, this is a scam."

I also had an old friend form middle school yell at me for accusing the company he was "working" for of being a scam. I was just looking out for him.
 
I definitely have noticed this quite a bit in the last year looking for a job. I graduated last May with a Master's in Sport & Entertainment Management, and have been trying to find something in that field. One of the hardest things when looking is all of these "entry level" jobs that flood the job sites saying they are looking for young individuals in marketing.

It seems like everyone I look up the name of turns out to be a scam where you end up doing stuff door to door. Really makes it hard to find legitimate jobs and many days just makes me have to stop looking because there are so many of them.

They are everywhere too. I was looking more locally at first in South Carolina and there were many and now I've been trying to find some in the Los Angeles area, since it's a big sports town, and there are even more of them. It's ridiculous.

The main thing I don't get is what exactly do they gain with this? I guess information about people that apply? It just blows my mind that there are so many out there.
 
WinoMcCougarstein said:
Where in Oregon are you moving to?
Click to expand...

Beaverton :)

FalconSabre said:
I definitely have noticed this quite a bit in the last year looking for a job. I graduated last May with a Master's in Sport & Entertainment Management, and have been trying to find something in that field. One of the hardest things when looking is all of these "entry level" jobs that flood the job sites saying they are looking for young individuals in marketing.

It seems like everyone I look up the name of turns out to be a scam where you end up doing stuff door to door. Really makes it hard to find legitimate jobs and many days just makes me have to stop looking because there are so many of them.

They are everywhere too. I was looking more locally at first in South Carolina and there were many and now I've been trying to find some in the Los Angeles area, since it's a big sports town, and there are even more of them. It's ridiculous.

The main thing I don't get is what exactly do they gain with this? I guess information about people that apply? It just blows my mind that there are so many out there.
Click to expand...

No kidding. "Flood" is the perfect way to describe it. Just tons of bullshit nonsense to wade through while you're looking for legitimate opportunities.
 
I recall one of my first job interviews shortly after leaving college was with an "Agile Informatics" in California. They alleged they could get me quickly trained and lined up with a job in a big-name company without too much hassle.

The catch? They wanted money. My money. Up front.

I decided not to agree to that on the spot, obviously, and instead look up what their deal was. There was a scathing review online that kinda turned me off to the whole thing (one of these, I believe)... apparently somebody else bought into this, and the training was total shit - you were told to go find articles in your field of choice, and deliberately plagiarize them, putting your name on their work, to make your own resume look good. The guy writing the article obviously felt bad about this, but the guys at Agile threatened to sue him for the cost of the training - which, they alleged, would cost a whole lot more than the amount of money he'd already paid them. He left anyway, but was kind of in a shitty situation, being stuck in unfamiliar territory thanks to the whole situation.

Agile called me back later and said that I'd passed the interview and could follow-up with them. I never did.

I have a decent job at a software company now, which I got based on my merits and not somebody else's. I can only think of what might've happened if I hadn't caught that red flag, and shudder. I really dodged a bullet.

Considering they got a review as recently as February 2013 (for the record, I was job-hunting in 2010), seems they're still at it. Sickening.
 
I almost fell for the Vector Marketing thing. Shady thing to do when their real name isn't used upfront. I think I "interviewed" with them in 2011 and have been looking since. I'm more careful now but postings on Craigslist are always very suspicious.
 
JBourne said:
Someone at my community college writes notes on the whiteboards telling people to apply to Vector Marketing for perfect student jobs. I don't know if it's a teacher or a student. The three times I've seen it, I've written a note under it warning people. Nothing lengthy, just a simple "watch out, this is a scam."

I also had an old friend form middle school yell at me for accusing the company he was "working" for of being a scam. I was just looking out for him.
Click to expand...

I fell for it at my university too. I ended up going in for the interview (why not, right?) without knowing about what it was. Ended up walking out mid interview when they started telling me that I'd need to purchase knives from them.
 
The worst thing is now I am suspicious of most any listing that isn't from a big company or university. I may miss out on a great opportunity from a legitimate upstart or just smaller company due to this.
 
Trin said:
Had some scammy offers, some trying to get me to pay them for a job and others trying to steal personal info.

Then there are the pyramid scheme folks, which is a whole 'nother stupid level of scam bullshit. Durrr sell energy drinks to your friends to sell to other people, make thousands a day! Right.
Click to expand...
Oh God when I worked in retail I can't count the times I was pitched that inane "pre-paid legal" pyramid crap by customers.

One of my friends even tricked 3 of us into going to a seminar by stating this "great money making opportunity" but would never tell us what it was until we got there(which I later found out pre-paid encourages you to be vague). And of course he was our ride so we all had to stay there. Unfortunately my then-roomate signed up for it ($250 initiation + $50/month for your "prepaid legal" fees). By the 2nd month he was frantically calling the company to cancel.
 
Moofers said:
No kidding? This is interesting. What did they want from you? Did they ask for money, or how far did you go in your communications with them?
Click to expand...

Yeah, like many have mentioned they'll find a way to contact you, which in my case was a letter through the mail. They'll advertise $18 minimum per hour + commission, scholarships for students, no job experience needed etc. Somehow they receive your number and call you, mention nothing about the business, and tell you that you "qualify" for the job after only answering 2 questions over the phone.

Then they try getting you to interview the day they called. It was literally 2 PM when they called and the receptionist tried getting me to interview at 4 PM. Fuck no. And yeah, the business is selling shitty cutlery knives and such. Plus it's sales so you need to travel to people's houses and the like, which obviously sucks if you don't drive.

Regardless, stay away from this nonsense if you hear about it. I feel bad for the people that took the time to go through with this.
 
Pau said:
Ugh, one of my friends fell for this and tried to get me to let him to schedule an "appointment" with my folks. He also gave them my boyfriend's number without asking because they're asked for contact information for more potential employees. And of course, any time I would tell this friend it was a scam, he would get super defensive and say he would never fall for such a thing. :/
Click to expand...

My old roommate/friend worked for them selling dem knives. Same exact thing, tried to schedule and appointment with my parents. His GF and I knew it was a scam. But him being a High School Dropout didnt have much of a choice in terms of jobs. He just did it. I dont know for sure if he still works there.
 
Moofers said:
First off, recruiters don't name who they're hiring for because then the cat is out of the bag and you can go apply without their aid and they get nothing out of it. Second, I know what my position pays. Unless they have some misunderstanding of my qualifications, or the hours are not full-time, I'd be making double what I do now. These days, its hard to imagine anyone being hard up enough to not know what they should be paying employees.
Click to expand...

That's not usually true for contracts in my experience. Usually the core company goes through contracting firms for this, so you're technically an employee of the contracting firm.
Also for contracting, depending on the firm, you can make more than a full-time position for some jobs.
 
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