I was laid off from my graphic design/website maintenance day job in mid-December. I still have podcast editing going on that’s keeping a roof over my head, and fortunately, this happened just a month before I serve as technical director for two livestream events, for which I also get paid. There’s no good time to lose a job, but as timing goes, this happened at a time when other things could keep me afloat. Obviously, I’ve already started looking for something to replace that job and that lost income, because the livestream events in January are a fortunately-timed outlier, not the norm. Since I have no working vehicle, and the nearest access point to public transportation is miles away, I’m also locked into looking for remote work.
This is where things get tricky. There are so many grifters out there running “work from home” scams that it’s unbelievable. Let’s meet one of them right now.
The Trap
One of my specialties, obviously, is podcast editing. I’m not necessarily expecting to be able to make my entire living doing that. It’d be neato if I could, but it’s not necessarily a realistic expectation. So it perked up my day a little bit to receive this e-mail from “info@therabodyhire.com”:
Hey Earl,
Good Morning and best wishes for the season! I hope you are doing well. I’m Kelly Cole, the Human Resources Coordinator at Therabody. We were impressed by your background on LinkedIn and would like to extend you an invitation to an interview for the role of Podcast Editor. This interview’s objectives are for us to learn more about you and for you to ask any questions you may have. We want to make sure that the position and our company’s culture align with your objectives. Looking forward to your response shortly!Sincerely,
Human Resources Coordinator.
Kelly Cole.
Well hey! I responded that yes, I’d be open to talking about the position. Then I went to therabodyhire.com – which redirected me to therabody.com itself. Okay, that part looks legit. But going through the “careers” page on therabody.com, there’s no opening for a podcast editor. Hmmmmm. That’s odd, but not necessarily conclusive in and of itself. Some employers will close the application process at around the same time they begin contacting candidates for interviews.
“Kelly Cole” gets back to me via e-mail.
Hi Earl, thanks for following up! Please see the attached document and If you’ve got questions, you’re welcome to contact me. Have a good day!
PS; If you are currently experiencing issues setting up the interview with me, Please note! The interview will be done on the Microsoft Teams platform with userID: info@therabodyhire.com on the pdf is my Microsoft team ID, Kindly sign up to Microsoft teams and then have me added!
Sincerely,
Kelly Cole,
Human Resources Coordinator.
I have included, for your perusal, the document “Kelly” sent to me. And I chatted with “Kelly” in Microsoft Teams and set up the interview time:
[1/10/23 12:30 PM] Earl Green
Hello Kelly, Earl Green here (re: the podcast editor position). I’m available either this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon to interview; any weekday next week is good as well.
[1/10/23 12:33 PM] Kelly Cole
Hello Earl, great to have you on here.
Your interview is set for tomorrow at 1: 00 pm est. It will be conducted live on here so ensure you are online and available to proceed at this time. Download the Microsoft Teams app on your phone or tablet for easier accessibility, let me know if this is fine with you.
[1/10/23 12:34 PM] Earl Green
That works great, I will be here.
[1/10/23 12:37 PM] Kelly Cole
Ps: Your interview will be conducted live on here through secure AES encrypted text chat.
[1/10/23 12:37 PM] Earl Green
Understood.
The Smell Test
Going through the PDF she sent me, what’s funny is that the first skill set of mine that was triggered by this document was my graphic design skill set. I’ve built catalogs, brochures, manuals, and sell sheets in InDesign. If you’re going to have a semi-transparent greyscale or spot-color version of a company logo beneath the text of a document, InDesign makes that exceedingly easy to do. But it struck me as odd, and a bit unprofessional, that the Therabody logo is in this square that’s floating on top of everything that it should be behind. Also, fonts and typefaces are all over the place – it’s like they got hold of an actual Therabody onboarding document and spliced in some pages that had been done in Microsoft Word.
This is a remote position and the hours are flexible. The base salary is $75/hr and it will start at $60 for your first month.
Let me say this: nobody pays podcast editors that much. Nobody. In my opinion, I’m paid really well to do the stuff I do for my current employers/clients, but $75 an hour? That’s…not realistic. I mean, maybe if you’re editing Joe Rogan or something? Which…this isn’t?
My spidey-sense really started tingling when I saw this:
You will be advised on how to receive the following devices:
- MacBook Pro 16″ (M2 Max)
- HEDD Audio Type 20 Studio Monitors ,
- AKG K712 Pro Mastering and Reference Headphones
- Sony C800G Pac Studio Tube Condenser Microphone
Software List:
- TB employee portal,
- Virtual Presence 2.0 Video Conferencing Pro
- Logic Pro X and Sony Sound Forge.
The punctuation strewn randomly across the landscape seemed odd, but man, that’s some expensive kit. And I’m sure they’d have me buy it from someone who is probably also them, and have me submit an expense/reimbursement form that would never be paid. I already have gear, which is obvious because I’m already editing podcasts for other paying clients. Why do I need their gear?
But what I really should have twigged to first is: why have a separate URL for hiring? Is Therabody (full disclosure: they’re the makers of Theragun, and have been past sponsors of Mission Log, of which I’m the editor) such a big deal, making so many hires at a time when layoffs are happening en masse across many industries, that their hiring workflow needs its own URL?
There’s one way to see if this passes the smell test. Let’s hit up Whois.com and see what they say about each domain. Therabody.com looks pretty much like what I’d expect a commercial web site to look like:
Registered through GoDaddy, which is hardly unusual (so was the place where I used to work). Now let’s run therabodyhire.com through Whois:
Why the hell is something which is supposedly Therabody’s HR department – which you’d presume would be at the same Dallas, Texas address where the rest of the company is headquartered – in Iceland? I mean, nothing against Iceland, I hear it’s a lovely place. But why is this domain registered there?
I went to Therabody.com and submitted a message through their contact form: This person has contacted me for an interview, but they have this oddball e-mail address. Is this really a position you’re hiring? Is this person actually connected with your company?
Just a couple of hours before the scheduled interview, I got a response:
Hello Earl,
We can confirm this is not a real job posting for Therabody.Please do not continue engaging with anyone regarding this post. If you have already shared personal details or other sensitive information can report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and get a personalised recovery plan with the FTC at IdentityTheft.gov.
We appreciate that this must be a frustrating and confusing situation but to reiterate, this is not a real job posting or offer from Therabody.
I hope this has added some clarity.
In Good Health,
Lena
Customer Experience
Therabody
Thank you, Lena. (It’s worth noting that I have submitted similar requests through other companies’ contact forms in the past when doing this peculiar 21st century brand of due diligence, and have gotten very few responses, so a round of applause for Therabody here – and it’s very telling that they seem to have a form letter ready to go for such inquiries.)
Obviously “Kelly” would, in an interview (why text chat only for the interview?) try to get my personal info beyond what they’re already able to see in my LinkedIn profile. Let’s get the interview over with.
The Interview
Oddly enough, 1:00pm Eastern time – noon to me – came and went. Should I really be the one to remind the interviewer of the agreed-upon interview time?
[1/11/23 12:03 PM] Earl Green
I am ready for the interview if you are.
Crickets. Probably fleecing someone else. Multitasking can be overwhelming, I get it.
[1/11/23 12:11 PM] Earl Green
Hello Kelly – Earl Green here for the Therabody podcast editor interview.
[1/11/23 12:12 PM] Kelly Cole
Where are you currently located? I believe you have gone through the pre-job briefing thoroughly.
[1/11/23 12:13 PM] Earl Green
I am located in Arkansas.
[1/11/23 12:13 PM] Kelly Cole
Please confirm you meet the following requirements. -Must be fluent in communication in English, Spanish, or French -Must have a clear criminal charges record -Must be above 18 years of age.
[1/11/23 12:13 PM] Earl Green
Can confirm all three.
[1/11/23 12:14 PM] Kelly Cole
As we proceed with the briefing and interview, I will make every detail of the open position known to you so your keen and undivided attention is stipulated. Do be informed all minutes of this interview are being recorded for referential purposes.
[1/11/23 12:14 PM] Earl Green
I have a question or two before we proceed?
[1/11/23 12:14 PM] Kelly Cole
Sure.
[1/11/23 12:16 PM] Earl Green
Why is there a separate domain name for “Therabody hire”? I contacted Therabody to confirm the details, because the internet is a weird and wacky place, and they have no Kelly Cole working for them, nor are they hiring a podcast editor. How is the weather in Iceland anyway?
I’m probably not using my imagination though – that’s just where the domain is registered. Where are you actually?
Oddly enough, “Kelly” clammed up at this point and stopped talking to me. I probably should’ve let it play out a bit longer before tipping my hand, sure, but I’m a busy guy, so I’m sorry if I didn’t provide much entertainment/educational value here. I’ve got work to look for, remember?
The Empty Trap
Okay, so obviously I didn’t fall for it. But I’m not proud of how slowly I came around to the likelihood that it was a scam – because I do need the work, and that’s my first consideration. They’re counting on that desperation. But a bit of logical deduction was triggered by a PDF that was so sloppy that, if I had ever let something like that out the door for an employer, I would’ve been out of work a lot sooner.
If you wonder why people are giving up on the job search: shit like this is why. Because instead of just preparing yourself for the interview, looking at the company’s background and formulating responses to likely questions about how your skills meet their needs, and making yourself presentable for the interview, you also need to be checking e-mail headers, and doing WHOIS checks on domain names, and doing detective work to make sure that someone’s not trying to screw you over at a time when you cannot afford to be screwed over.
I’m fortunate in that I have had jobs in the past – such as IT contract work in a healthcare environment, where you’re constantly aware of violations that would run afoul of a rampaging HIPAA-potamus – that have given me an infosec-adjacent mindset and skill set – as Garibaldi once said on Babylon 5, “I can dream pretty dark.” Not everyone looking for work has that background.
But if you are looking for remote work, you really should, because the internet is full of “Kelly Coles” waiting to get between you and your personal information. Maybe I should just go freelance as a small-time security consultant.
Apologies to Therabody.com – they didn’t ask to be used by scammers and fraudsters as a cover story, and I truly appreciate their quick response to a query that other companies have, in the past, ignored completely.
Also, apologies to anyone actually named Kelly Cole.
Back to work. Such as it is. Obviously, whether it’s podcast editing, livestream production, graphic design, writing, being really suspicious of others, or what have you, I’m available. My CV, work samples, and other stuff are in my Linktree.
(artwork by Stable Duffusion, AI prompt: “internet server room swarming with rats”; AI upscaled)
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