Well... This is an interesting new scam.

[garote]

From lucas.jiang.itdev@gmail.com:

I hope you're doing well. This is Lucas, a full-stack developer from Malaysia. I wanted to propose collaborations - either non-technical or technical.

To keep it short, I'm looking to get well-paid jobs with companies or clients in the US. While this is feasible from Malaysia, they tend to prefer hiring developers from similar time zones. Especially for full-time jobs at companies, they typically don't hire developers outside of the US.

So, I believe the best way to get US jobs is to "impersonate" someone who resides in the US. It might sound risky, but it won't be risky as long as we keep this 100% confidential. I have the following two options in my mind.

Option #1

Have you heard of Upwork.com or Toptal? There's no easy way to get well-paid jobs, and Upwork or Toptal has a lot of competitive freelancers. However, I'm very confident that I can get great jobs to make decent money. I would suggest a split of 20% ~ 25% for you and 75% ~ 80% for me.

Here's how it would work:
- You open an Upwork or Toptal account if you don't have accounts, and log in to it on your secondary laptop.
- I connect to your secondary laptop via the AnyDesk app, and I search for jobs.
- You receive money into your bank account when I finish jobs with clients.
- You take your commission and send me the remaining.

Option #2

For full-time jobs at US companies, which obviously makes us way more money than freelancing jobs. I would suggest a split of 30% ~ 35% for you and 65% ~ 70% for me.

Here's how it would work:
- I apply for company jobs on LinkedIn using your LinkedIn account and get you scheduled with interviews on your calendar.
- You crack the interviews and get job offers.
- I perform day-to-day work on those jobs while you only attend the daily/scrum meetings. (I can also join the meetings if team members usually turn off cameras.)
- You get paid into your bank account bi-weekly or monthly, and you send me my portion after deducting your commission.

Please reply to this email if you want to schedule a call to discuss this further or if you have any other opinion for the collaboration.

Best,
Lucas

---

I'm pretty sure this is just a strangely-dressed version of the usual "give us your banking details" identity theft scam. But the boldness of the proposition surprises me. This is what people go for? This sounds like a good idea ... to anyone?

Comments

[juan_gandhi]

It does not look like scam to me. I'm sure people do it. Working in, like, half a dozen companies, with subsubcontractors around the world. In the previous company we had a QA from Senegal, a pretty smart Indian woman (I believe all Indian women are smart), and she was producing such an amazing amount of tests that I could not stop wondering - until I got it.

I agree with Lucas. Nobody wants to hire people abroad, unfortunately. If you don't mind helping him, why not?

BTW, many years ago, I started working on projects from a US company (Blaise Computing), doing contracts provided to me by one of the employees. Except that there was no cheating on his side, of course. It was all done openly.

[garote]

Interesting. Yes, I suppose this is plausible... But there is so much risk. How would the money even move around?

And, Lucas is asking for most of the compensation, and asking me to do all the interviewing and negotiation and attend all the meetings. Then, I assume, I would need to be the go-between for Lucas and all the other people he would work with. And if Lucas screws up, or just takes the money and does nothing, my reputation is on the line...

[juan_gandhi]

There's the risk regarding what if he screws up. Like in every company.

[soid]

I wonder if background check companies will start tracking it (or already doing it). Then there's a risk to the name and reputation, which might cost much higher than the extra third of the income.

[zka]

"You crack the interviews and get job offers." Ahaha, nooope. There's a whole shady industry of proxy interviewers in tech, it's wild. Did you see this gem?: the new hire who showed up is not the same person we interviewed

[garote]

Dang, what a convoluted process just to get rid of a guy who was an obvious fake...

They heard back from legal … who are less than thrilled about the situation! They approved HR to have a conversation with John regarding what has been reported (more in the vein of “there’s been some concerns about performance and you overselling abilities” and less of the We Think You Are a Liar route).

[garote]

Also, holy crap:

I’ve been in IT for 25+ years and recently this type of behavior has become so prevalent that on a new hire’s first day, before they even begin to fill out their paperwork, we take 10 technical question from the previous interview (along with the answers the candidate provided) and ask them again. Roughly 33% of the time the new-hire cannot answer the questions and we terminate them at the conclusion of the meeting. This seems to be especially true of contractors hired from off-shore companies, where the “default” rate is sometimes closer to 75%. Not all cultures are encumbered by the workplace ethics we have in the US and the ole ‘bait-n-switch’ seems to be a normal part of their business model.

[zka]

This surprised me, too. I'm glad there's now a process implemented to catch this sort of cheating; I guess this is the new normal.