I Received a Job Offer!

This is my 100th blog post. I have gone from a student who did not like to write in elementary school, middle school, high school, and undergraduate school, to a graduate student who tolerated writing a thesis, to a principal who needed to write at least once a week, to someone who writes when he has something to say for fun. I started this blog to share what I have learned and to demonstrate to a future employer that I know how to communicate. I guess it’s appropriate that my 100th article is job-related. I was offered a job! It was a remote job with flexible hours and a six-figure salary in instructional design.

Unfortunately, it was a scam. Something felt off from the initial email, but given how AI is used these days, I chalked it up to someone using AI poorly to communicate with potential applicants. Below, I will share the red flags I saw and explain how the scam works so you can protect yourself and your friends and family.

Something Was off from the Initial Email

Mon, Mar 11, 7:29 AM

Dear Applicant,

I am delighted to inform you that Some Great Company has reviewed your application, and we are impressed with your background. We're seeking a remote instructional designer, and you're one of the individuals shortlisted for the available post.

Kindly respond with "yes" if you are still interested in this employment and acknowledge receipt of this email.

Erin C. Edwards

Recruiting Specialist

Some Great Company is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran or disability status.

First, I did not recall applying to Some Great Company (name changed to protect the innocent company). However, I have applied for over 155 positions since October 19, 2023, and I might have forgotten to write it down. Secondly, the request to respond with “Yes” felt like an automated ticket system. I thought it was weird. Finally, I went online to find a job listing on the Some Great Company website. I found it on somegreatwebsite.com, but I noticed that the message came from erin@careers-somegreatwebsite.com. Again, I thought it was odd, but once I applied for a job at Intuitive.com, and the internal recruiter used intusurg.com, I thought this company might have had multiple domain names.

The Screening Test Request

I responded with “yes” at 10:12 AM the same day. I received the following message at 1:11 PM.

Kindly keep in mind that the next step in this process is to complete the screening test attached to this email; consider this your initial interview step. There is no definitive "right" or "wrong" answer; we are more interested in studying your cognitive processes and problem-solving abilities. Your responses must reach us before March 14, 2024.

The attachment was a PDF that came up clean from viruses. It had the Some Great Company logo at the top. I found one of the instructions peculiar. They were:

Instructions: Please precede all your answers with the question you are answering.

Use acronyms only after you've explained them.

Use correct spelling and grammar.

Reminding your candidate to use correct spelling and grammar was odd. The questions looked realistic and did not require personal information, so I completed the form.

Please enclose a copy of your resume with your responses and a link to your portfolio or projects.

1. Are you employed presently?

2. What professional experiences have you had outside of instructional design that prepared

you for this role?

3. Can you describe a recent instructional design project you worked on? What were the goals, challenges, and outcomes?

4. What strategies do you use to ensure that instructional materials are accessible to diverse learners, including those with disabilities or different learning styles?

5. What types of learning content do you have experience building?

6. What is your experience with different instructional design models?

7. Which instructional materials are you most proud of creating?

8. How do you handle tight budgets or resource constraints when designing learning solutions?

9. What software and authoring tools are you proficient in for creating instructional materials?

10. Discuss your approach to forming intelligible instructional road maps for the programs you develop.

11. How do you stay current with industry trends and best practices in instructional design?

12. How do you incorporate adult learning principles into your instructional design process?

13. Which factors do you consider when evaluating instructional materials?

14. What salary would you expect for this role? Based on the responsibilities below.

15. How soon can you start?

The second page had the job description. The top half was a verbatim copy of what I had found on LinkedIn, Simply Hired, and SomeGreatCompany.com. I did not realize that the qualifications and skills listed in the screening were not the same as the original. The qualifications were modified to say “1+ years of experience with instructional design …” I also did not realize that the posting did not list Articulate or Captivate, two major instructional designer software packages used to create eLearning.

The salary range on Simply Hired was much lower than the one listed in the screening. However, I assumed the online posting may have been for a different instructional designer position.

At this point, I looked online for Erin C. Edwards on Some Great Company’s website and LinkedIn page, and I could not find her. Not every employee has a LinkedIn. Mine is only a year old. I thought it was odd but not out of the ordinary. I spent a couple of hours completing the survey and sent it back the following day at 7:00 a.m. With my attachment, I thanked Erin for the opportunity. I apologized for my terseness in responding to her initial email because I thought automation was being used and did not want to confuse the system.

The Confirmation of My Screening Answers

Mar 12, 2024, 11:34 AM

Michael,

Thank you for completing the screening test questions. I acknowledge receipt of your answers. Our team will review your answers and forward them to the hiring board for their decision, and I will get back to you with the board's decision. Kindly note that, due to the high volume of applications, the review process may take some time. We appreciate your patience and assure you that we are committed to providing timely updates on your application status.

Being that this is an urgently needed position, you might be hired if the hiring board decides you are the best candidate based on your experience, resume, and answers to the screening test. However, you might still be required to attend an additional online interview. Kindly note that this is going to be a remote job, and the working hours are flexible, which means you have a high level of control over your working hours.

Furthermore, you will be undergoing training before you start working fully if you are hired by the end of this process. This training aims to acquaint new personnel with comprehensive knowledge about their respective roles while granting us further insight into each individual's professional attributes. Stand by while I forward your screening test answers to the hiring board.

I copied some excerpts from the email and pasted them into a search engine, but nothing came up. In hindsight, I see how the scammer set me up by creating a scenario where they will “hire me on the spot” and not have a second interview. In addition, I see how they are trying to set me up for training without having access to Some Great Company resources.

I thanked Erin for the timeline and acknowledgment of receipt of my screening questions and offered to provide any other information the hiring board needed.

The Offer

Mar 18, 2024, 7:41 AM

Dear Michael Lee,

I am pleased to extend the following offer of employment to you on behalf of Some Great Company: We are excited to offer you a full-time position (remote) as an instructional designer. Based on your experience, screening test responses, and resume, we look forward to seeing how you will take our instructional designs to the next level.

Congratulations!

Your knowledge, skills, and experience would be ideal for the Some Great Company instructional design team. We hope you will enjoy your role and make a significant contribution to the overall success of Some Great Company. You will promptly begin a three- to five-day online training via Zoom following the configuration of your workspace, and daily task assignments will be communicated to you and your supervisor, Patrick Dunn, who will be available online to provide guidance and support.

Some Great Company is pleased to extend an offer of an annual commencing salary of $121,942, payable semi-monthly via direct deposit or wire transfer, contingent upon your preference, in recognition of your qualifications and professional background. After 5 days of working with us, you will be given a user ID and password, a link to the company server, a list of contact information for various departments, and any essential forms to fill out.

Before you begin work, you will be granted the approved funds to set up your workspace by acquiring the workplace supplies and software required to begin your training and job. You should receive your job offer letter shortly. We intend for you to start training as soon as possible.

The following information must be submitted promptly to facilitate the registration process and enable the drafting of your offer letter:

Your Complete Name:

Full mailing address:

Contact information:

Your email address:

Red Flag City! I was offered a job without an in-person or Zoom interview. I could not find Patrick Dunn on LinkedIn or the Some Great Company website. “We look forward to seeing how you will take our instructional designs to the next level.” seemed odd. They wanted my “Contact information:” What did that mean? Phone number? They emailed me this request; why did they need my email?

Notice how the scammer tried to set the stage for me to not have access to company assets for five days and how eager they were for me to start training.

This also reeked of the “I’ll send you money. Oops! I sent you too much! Can you wire some back to me?” scam.

My Response

By this time, I was very skeptical. I called a good friend to get his take. He said that with the way AI is being used, it may be a poor application of AI.

I finally took the time to go to the ICANN website and did a lookup on SomeGreatCompany.com and Careers-SomeGreatCompany.com. As those of you screaming at your screens that this was a scam from the start would probably expect, SomeGreatCompany.com was registered many years ago, and Careers-SomeGreatCompany.com was registered on March 9, 2024. I am unsure what day the job was posted on the company’s website and job boards. I received my initial message on March 11.

While they wanted my home address, anyone who tries hard enough could determine it. We decided there was no harm in responding, so at 10:28 AM, I responded with the requested information.

The “Fake” Offer Letter

By this time, I figured that the Some Great Company was based in Eastern Standard Time. I received my official offer letter at 2:54 PM PDT (5:54 PM EDT). It was a little late for business hours, but I know how busy it sometimes gets, so I dismissed my concern. The letter included a virus-free PDF of the offer letter. I have never seen an official remote job offer letter, but some portions looked “off” to me. A section repeated itself on the fifth page. The CEO’s name of Some Great Company was typed on the fifth page. The signature page was on the last page, with only room for me to sign. No other signatures were on the page. The offer letter included the company logo on the front page and as a watermark.

The email accompanying the offer letter was the nail in the coffin of this scam.

Dear Michael Lee,

Congratulations again on your offer from Some Great Company. We are delighted to offer you the position of instructional designer, with an anticipated start date of March 27, 2024. I have attached your detailed offer letter, as discussed in the prior email. If you accept this offer, kindly sign and email your letter to me by March 20, 2024, or earlier. Kindly note that, upon acceptance of this employment offer, you will be working 40 hours a week, and working hours with the company are very flexible.

Also, the following equipment will be delivered to you to set up your workspace:

*iMac Pro, an eight-core, 3.2GHz processor with a 27-inch 5K display, MacBook Pro (2023) 16.2-inch Apple M2 Pro 12-core and 19-core GPU, 16GB RAM, SSD 512GB, an HP Laser-jet Pro M15w printer, an external hard drive, and a backup system, Headphones with a microphone, networking, and router capabilities; Proof Hub, GitHub, and surge protectors for Adobe Suite; ergonomic furniture: desk and chair.

The funds for acquiring equipment will be available before purchase and delivery. After the equipment has been purchased, the company's approved vendors will either deliver the equipment to your home address or a post office near you, depending on your preference.

We look forward to welcoming you to Some Great Company.

The equipment list was one of the many dead giveaways. Why would a company provide me with two computers for a remote job? I did not even look into the specs for the computers, but my friend told me that the iMac Pro was discontinued in 2021. The MacBook Pro M2 doesn’t have a 12-core 19-core GPU option. Besides, why would they send a Mac if they want to use Articulate? In addition, the surge protector for Adobe Suite was suspect. There was no mention of Articulate or Captivate. I wasn’t coding, so I didn’t know why I needed GitHub. I had never heard of ProofHub, but now I know it is project management software.

The last line of the email had what I had been looking for all along. A search for “After the equipment has been purchased, the company's approved vendors will either deliver the equipment to your home address or a post office near you, depending on your preference” came up with a link to Luis Garcia’s article on LinkedIn titled “Watch out of the sophisticated scammers”. I finally could see how the emails that were sent to me were altered from what was sent to Luis. I could see why I couldn’t find this scam until now.

I did not respond to the scammer, and they did not follow up after the March 20 deadline. I included the full text of my emails to put them out there for the search engines to pick up so others can learn about this scam.

The Scam

The way the scam works is that the scammer was going to send me a check for the equipment I needed for the position. The scammer would "accidentally" send too much money, ask me to deposit the check, and wire a portion back. Banks are not allowed to hold deposit money from their customers for a duration that is long enough to determine if a check is good. The full deposit should generally be available on the second business day. The scammer hoped I would wire the excess money before the bank determined the original check was a bad one. I would have been out the amount I wired back to the scammer and associated fees.

My Thoughts

I was surprised that these scammers were on top of the job market, stole job descriptions, bought a related domain, responded during US business hours, and played the long game of waiting to “review” my screening responses. There were red flags throughout this scam. It’s unfortunate they put job seekers through this rigamarole. They groom you by making you feel like a standout and at the head of the class for hire. You start thinking everything the experts say about finding a job is finally happening. They found my portfolio. They liked my work. They liked it so much that they wanted to hire me “on the spot.” Wow! A remote job with flexible hours –this is great! They know you are vulnerable and looking for a job. Thankfully, I only lost time and suffered the emotional drain from this scam. But to take money from people who can’t afford to lose money at this time is cruel.

Safety Tips

Be safe out there. Only communicate via official domain names. Never provide bank account information. Never wire money to someone you don’t know. Make sure your parents, grandparents, and elderly relatives know about scams. Tell them not to trust people asking for money for children, grandchildren, or relatives who are “in trouble.” If that is ever the case, instruct your loved one to hang up and call the person who is supposedly in trouble directly.

So here we are, 100 blog posts later. This was certainly my longest blog. In case you are wondering, I am still open to real work.