• Ellen Davis, a writer, said she was targeted by a fake job scam while seeking remote work.
• The scam involved impersonating HR representatives and requesting personal information, according to screenshots.
• Davis warned others to trust their instincts and be cautious of unusual job processes or requests.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ellen Davis, a New York-based writer. Her identity has been verified, and BI has viewed screenshots from her correspondences. This essay has been edited for length and clarity.

For many, many years, I’ve worked as a marketing and promotion writer and producer at major networks and companies like People Magazine.

My last role ended a few months ago and I’ve been actively looking for work. I was primarily going after remote copywriter roles and I was having a hard time getting even a nibble.

Earlier this month, I got a text from a potential job that I had applied for, which seemed a little odd, but I thought, ‘Okay, it’s a whole new world out there. Technology has changed and maybe this is how representatives are contacting people.’

They said they liked my résumé and thought I would be a great fit.

I wasn’t surprised to hear from the company. The name was familiar because I did apply there and I immediately checked the names that they were using on LinkedIn and they were actual HR representatives from the company.

So I started to communicate.

It was a scam

The person texting me told me to contact someone on Google Chat, which also should have been a red flag — but I did it. Her original message said, “We need to hear from you ASAP,” and I thought, I’m not going to interview on a weekend. I said I would be available on Monday.

We never had a Zoom call. We never spoke on the phone. She sent me a series of questions asking why I’m the best fit for the job and what my qualifications are.

Things started getting odd when she asked me what my credit score was. I should have ended things right there, but instead, I said, “Honestly, I don’t know what my credit score is.”

Then she told me what a good job I did and said she was going to present me to the board of directors, which seemed preposterous to me that a copywriter job would go before the board of directors.

At that point, I really started to feel a little odd, so I went on LinkedIn and I wrote messages to the two people from the actual company whose names were used in these fraudulent communications with me.

While I was waiting to hear back from them, the person on Google Chat said the board of directors was very impressed with my credentials and they’d like to hire me as a copywriter. As soon as she said that, she also sent a list of equipment she was going to send to me to be able to do the job, including a 15-inch MacBook, headset, laminator, and printer. As a writer, I thought I would just send a file — why would I have to laminate?

I then saw I had a message on LinkedIn. It was the woman from the actual company who confirmed the Google Chat exchange was a scam and said the company would never contact me via text or Google Chat.

Immediately, I blocked the scammers.

Trust your instincts

The scammers strung me along for at least four or five hours. If I’m going to interview at a company, I research the company. I take pages of notes that I have in front of me when I’m going to go through an interview.

I’ve heard of this scam before, where they require you to have all this technology in order to perform the job and they send you a check to cover the cost of it and the check turns out to be fraudulent. I have a feeling that’s where it was heading.

I’m mortified that I didn’t pick up on these signals, but I was eager to move things forward. It was a company that promoted sustainability and I just thought this would have been fascinating work and something that I actually believe in.

I’ve applied to a few more jobs since, but my heart’s a little broken that I fell for this and I definitely don’t feel confident at the moment.

There’s so much cruelty out there and it can feel like everyone is just trying to separate you from your money and your dignity. We have to protect each other a little bit.

That’s why I’m trying to put this out there: If you feel something is wrong, it’s likely wrong — very rarely do you get that sense of uncomfortableness in a legitimate interview.

You might be nervous. You might be tense. But if you feel something’s wrong, trust your instinct.