As I had briefly mentioned in my last article, I was targeted by scammers recently with a bogus job offer. How these nefarious folks come up with these ideas is beyond me but let me lay it out there for you; hopefully this will save some time and potential legal issues for anyone else who may also get targeted.
Most of you are probably familiar with LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, etc. if you have done any kind of job hunting in the last couple of years. For those of you not familiar, these are applications where you can post your resume, list your skills and basically promote yourself while creating specific searches for open positions. I am on a lot of these sites and I am incredibly active in networking and job hunting right now. I occasionally get a recruiter or company directly reaching out to me with an invite to apply for a position they think I may be a good fit for. On my second week of actively job hunting, I received an email from someone claiming to be in Human Resources for the company CliniPace Worldwide inviting me to apply for a Senior Executive Position. Sweet!
I checked out CliniPace to find out what they do, what size of a company they are and reviewed the position details. While I wasn’t super excited about working for a company that does clinical trials (I have quite a few reservations about pharmaceuticals), the role description checked off the right boxes regarding location, pay and benefits. I soon replied that I’d be glad to apply and schedule an interview.
The fun begins!
I received an almost immediate response with instructions on how to take an online personality assessment which I then spent about seven minutes taking. After that, I was to take a skills assessment on problem solving and on Microsoft Office which took around 20 minutes. An hour or two later “CliniPace” arranged a time with me to join a Google Hangouts chat with them to take a 90 minute interview. I am familiar with pretty much all Google Suite applications, but this did seem a bit weird to conduct an interview via a messaging app, so I checked Glassdoor for CliniPace employee reviews and two different individuals said they had been working for the company and that’s how they conduct their first round of interviews. Ok, cool – I've been quite a while out of the job-hunting game so I guess things have changed. I jump into the chat at the time set and spend 90 freaking minutes answering questions and being put through the paces.
This was the profile pic displayed in the Google Hangouts chat, the official logo for CliniPace Worldwide
Can I just take a moment to say that the more I think about this, the more pissed off I get? I’ve now put in 2+ hours on “CliniPace” between researching, assessments and interviewing. I missed going to the gym and made a super lame supper for my family which I did not sit down to enjoy with them, dinner is where a lot of quality time is spent catching up on each other’s day. I hope the people behind this get kidney stones and never-ending STDs. Maybe also that their most favorite foods taste forever sour.
The next day, “CliniPace” reached out to let me know they had reviewed my application, all that went with it and they wanted to make me an offer! I was flattered and the offer plus excellent benefits was something I really shouldn’t pass up. I told them I could start January 2nd and they were fine with that. I wanted the time until then to continue searching for jobs that I was more excited about and hopefully with a bit smaller company – I don’t want to feel like someone just filling a role but that I’m really making a difference in a field that inspires me. I may never get the chance to be this picky again, so I want to make the most of it!
Next step was to get a check from “CliniPace” to purchase a company laptop and software ONLY to be used for company work, this was a remote position. I figured the check would come in December but, lo and behold, I received a UPS package from them two days later and before I am even out of bed for the day, my “CliniPace” contact, “Phill Miller”, is messaging and calling me to make sure I received the check. I get up, go to my front door and sure enough, the package is there. I let Phill know I have it and he asks me to confirm the number on the check and follow the instructions on the letter asap. I open the package…
Phill Miller: Have you sent an email to the address on the letter?
Me: Phill, I am NOT comfortable with this. Why is the check from a construction company and why is it for so much? The letter is very suspicious and unprofessional.
Phill: The check is drawn from an affiliate company of ours, just follow the instruction on the letter and everything will be fine.
Phill: Are you there?
Me: I just spoke with R&D Pipeline Construction and they have never heard of CliniPace and that check was cut to a different payee last week for $88.00. I also just called CliniPace headquarters and spoke with the head of Human Resources and who said they are not affiliated that construction company, I am emailing them both a copy of everything I received.
At this point Phill is angry and telling me that I’m blowing a great opportunity as well as breaking confidentiality. He asked me to send back the check. I informed him that under no circumstances would I return the check and to never contact me again.
And that’s how I got duped!
What’s so infuriating about this is that I could have said “Thanks but no thanks” to my other interviews and blew some real chances at amazing opportunities. This is my livelihood and these pieces of garbage have no problem messing with that to their end. I am told they would have wanted me to cash the fraudulent check, purchase something small and send them the remainder of the money. Essentially, I would be laundering money at no risk to them.
Moral of the story: find yourself a sugar daddy so you don’t have to job hunt.
Other pertinent info:
CliniPace Worldwide and R&D Pipeline Construction were both very pleasant, helpful and apologetic that this happened. Last I heard, that day I was the first of 7 phone calls. They have all pertinent information and are handling accordingly.
Phill claimed he was from Charlotte, NC where CliniPace headquarters are located. He said that CliniPace was opening an office in my state later next year and eventually I could choose to work in that office but that I could continue to telecommute as much as I wished. If this seems suspicious to you, I was recently working for a very large corporate company where I worked from home 4 days/week, this seemed on the up and up to me.The reviews I saw on Glassdoor have disappeared, I assume the real CliniPace deleted them. They also had Glassdoor remove the open position listing made in their name.
I have a couple of good friends who head up Human Resources and are responsible for hiring at some large firms, they have never heard of this scheme, perhaps it’s new?
Ah, that sucks. What a slimy operation. Good on you for putting the brakes on. They're probably counting on people to be desperate enough for a job that they continue despite the clear red flags. Lol at that letter. "...attached to you via Online". 🙄
The letter, lol. Phill kept trying to ask me what about the letter gave it away but I would answer - I'm sure that will be refined by them. Ugh.
Jesus, what assholes. Incredible that someone actually puts time and money into developing such a scam. At least you got out relatively soon, it could've been so much worse! I'm glad you did. <3
It's a lot effort for a few thousand bucks but it's also pretty convincing until that letter. I hope no one really falls for it!
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This kind of scam is not new @reeseshara, but it's the first time I hear of it in this way.
I've had something similar a few times, but with ads I placed to sell a bike or something. Someone would contact me and tell me they want the item and will pay more if I can ship it to them. Which is not a very unreasonable request. But then, same thing happened. They send a cheque, with an amount way too high and ask to return the rest...
I think I've had this three times now. And I live in Ireland, which is not that huge...so I guess people pulling these kinds of scams are everywhere.