| Author | Message | ||
     Whatever |
Alrighty then... this is a little bit of a rant... So I apply for a job through Monster.com, which is nothing new as I have used their service successfully to find my last two professional jobs. I apply to this slick contract position posted by Collabera. SAME DAY I get a call from a woman I can barely understand... she is East Indian... I mean, really, she talks like frickin Sandeep on steroids. I think, "Oh a job !!!" so I try to keep an open mind while I try to figure out what the hell she is saying without embarassing me or her too much. So I ask "excuse me" a few times and I get the general gist of what she is saying. "Our client is Verizon, in Charlotte, NC and they are working on (blah, blah, blah)." I think, "oh, ok, Verizon is BIG money." She asks me very specific questions about my experience and cannot properly pronounce the technical terms, and it is quite obvious she has absolutely no idea what she is talking about... I talk to her for 20 minutes. And (MY FAULT) I do tell her what my birthdate is. Now I am thinking if she asks for my social security number I am going to hang up on her. So she says I need to reply to an e-mail. And she sends me an e-mail, with no specific instructions about what she wants me to reply to. Ok. Whatever... So I search Collabera on-line. Turns out they are a legitimate company... OR (more likely) they have some very very very good IT people who made up their website... they are an IT contractor... wow, they even have a white guy as CEO. I trace the area code to New Jersey and the IP of the e-mail to New Jersey. So, I find numerous complaints about these people calling prospective employees up and asking for their social security. I dig around on Monster and send them the information in a phishing complaint, including all the headers to the e-mail. I am also trying to find someone in Verizon headquarters to find out if there is any contract they have a contract with Collabera OR if they (Collabera) just made the sh*t up. Conveniently they have called me at 5:30 PM on a Friday night so I will have to wait for Monday to do more research. SINCE THEN, they have called me back twice, the second time it was an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT VOICE, it was a man's voice and I could actually understand him better (but he still said his name was (whatever))... this morning they call me AGAIN, and it is the same Bollywood Drag Queen leaving a message that I talked to yesterday. "We need e-mail confirmation to suggest you for a position for (unable to pronounce technical terms) with Verizon in Charlotte, North Carolina." I talked to the bank, signed up again for credit check, and changed my passwords on Monster.com and my bank. Should I be worried that they have my name with middle initial, address, phone, e-mail and my birthdate??? The bank was really cool about it and said there is not much they can do without my social security and to keep monitoring my accounts. Should I be worried? Besides reporting these people and getting in touch with Verizon Headquarters on Monday, is there anything else I can do? I am kindof pissed and embarassed at this point... has this happened to anyone else on here??? I am sure Court would have something interesting to say !?! | ||
| Elsinore74 |
I'm no expert, but having had my personal information compromised by an HMO a few years ago, I'll tell you that sick feeling you probably have right now is certainly natural. You've made the right moves (request a new credit report,notify bank). You may consider a security freeze, but as the bank told you, without your SSN the mystery party doesn't have much to work with, and will likely move on to an easier score (their operation may have anywhere from handful of people to a sweatshop/call center). Hope that helps. Just stay vigilant, keep an eye on your credit reports. Does anyone here have any experience with Lifelock? I've always wondered about them, but was hesitant to give my information to yet another firm. | ||
| Whatever |
I thought these were cute... http://www.onguardonline.gov/videos/phishy-home.as px http://www.onguardonline.gov/games/phishing-scams. aspx | ||
| Elsinore74 |
More information on freezing your credit: http://www.consumersunion.org/campaigns/learn_more /003484indiv.html Lots more out there; just search "credit freeze." | ||
| Just_ziptab |
Goggle "Lifelock sucks" and you will have your answer. | ||
| Froggy |
It is a scam. Lifelock charges you for what you can do for free, and even that isn't 100% bulletproof. The Lifelock CEO has his SSN displayed on all the advertisements and he has had his identity stolen over a dozen times. | ||
| Xdigitalx |
Try: USAJOBS.com & DICE.com I don't remember ever giving any detailed information like that to anyone until they actually hired me. Thats when they asked/needed all that personal info... but I never needed any secret clearance either. You didn't give them anything they couldn't get on their own, I wouldn't worry about it. | ||
| Greg_e |
#1 no employer should be asking your date of birth before you are actually filling out paperwork to start you on a job, age maybe but no personal info. #2 I'm not sure what Verizon has down south, the call center for many things is in Syracuse, several other parts are in Rochester (former owner of the network before Verizon bought them). Since they have an amphitheater named after them in Charlotte I guess it's possible. #3 when I pasted the company name into google, it suggested the word scam to go along with that name. I think we have our answer. This link may give you some incite into what they might be doing: http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Collabera-I nc-previously-known-as-GCI/791833_Review.htm | ||
| Whatever |
Twits left me ANOTHER message... 'We are withdrawing your application...'! Wow... what a bunch of morons !!! All within 24 hours of me posting my resume to the job. Even if they are a real company, they need to be reported !!! I am out riding !!! (Message edited by Whatever on May 14, 2011) | ||
| Whatever |
Good link Greg...I never trust a wolf in sheeps clothing... no more job crap today.. kinda reminds me of my first job after college where the field manager jumped into a pit of toxic waste and took a sample with his hand wrapped in saran wrap... also in NC... Left after 5 days... even at 21 w no job experience I knew that was wrong... lol... just might have to start praying again ! | ||
| Rmzmzm |
If you are interested in Verizon - skip the middleman and try here http://www22.verizon.com/Jobs/Search/ | ||
| Reepicheep |
It would be better if they didn't have it, but that's not the holy grail yet. The SSN is the biggie. What they *can* do with that information is pretext... claim to be you but that you forgot your password or need a copy of your recent transactions or something, and when the company asks security questions only you should know, the attacker hopes its one of the ones you gave them. Most companies ought to be asking better questions than this though. So not a zero concern thing, but not a reason to panic either. More likely they are just building a marketing database to sell. | ||
| Kenm123t |
The praying part is a great move! | ||
| Cityxslicker |
do NOT reply to that email, even to taunt them . it has malicious code ware to it, that once you respond, it now has a tracecert back to your IP addy... and badda bing, badda boom, the will sniff your passwords, and change them all to their own default; and you will lose the accounts. I lost a yahoo id this way two months ago; Luckily I use a burn email for every CL post I do But do not Reply to that ad.... and I probably wouldnt even open it; they have some very wanky code swaggers there. I would like to introduce them to some of my pipe carrying Ukrainian coding friends. The write code with real 'hardware' | ||
| Whatever |
I deleted the e-mail... it is gone... I do, however have a copy of the header information as Monster gave me info on how to download that... and I sent it in with the complaint. What a bunch of turds. Anyhow, I am keeping an eye on my bank account and all three credit report accounts just to be cautious. Thanks guys! | ||
| Slowride |
Whatever... I am in the IT business and I am currently a consultant after leaving my previous job of 3 years. There are 3 types of agency's... 1. Big 5 players ( they take your resume info online and proceed to call you, setup a prescreen and then hand you off to a handler that will work you into an interview if you pass their sniff test. They pay good, real good and they will go the extra mile to get you in the door. They will have spent the time to get to know you and what makes you tick. They will sometimes have talked you up so much to the hiring company, the interview turns into a demo run on the company and you leaving know you have the job if you want it.) 2. Standard Agency's ( They will shoot you a fairly pointed email looking for a return email from you about the job. They will then call you and will do a prescreen with you and then shop your resume to their suite of clients until they get a hit. These company's normally pay what the hiring company's max rate is for the position. Most of these recruiters speak good english and are knowledgeable of the positions they are sourcing.) 3. Sweat Shop Agency's ( typically owned by a sole head hunter or minority business owner. They will employ as many $10 an hour fresh off the boat sales call recruiters to try and source as many job seekers they can. Typically they will be forced to ask for a right to represent you that is made up of your Name, DoB and last 4 of your SSN. The reason they are forced to do this is because most of these Sweat Shops are a 3rd party contractor shop, they blasted 100's of resumes to all forms of agency's and hiring company's in the hopes of getting just one picked up. They misrepresent the jobs 90% of the time and they always I repeat always pay you 15-20 dollars less an hour than they job is willing to pay. Unless you are absolutely desperate for a job, stay away from these shops. I typically get 10 Sweat Shop calls to every 1 Standard agency call. I also did a 5 year stint with Verizon in Dallas. 6 month contract to hire, 3 years as an employee and then 2 years as a WFH consultant. They us the sweat shop company's due to the Cast System that is within the company. Most of the IT execs are are Iranian, Directors are mostly Arabs (Lebanese, Saudi, Etc). Managers are typically a mix of Indian and Old White guys and the grunts are the fresh off the boat Indopaki / chinese. I know this sounds totally unPC but this is how it is. So most of those Exec, Dir, and Managers will hire the most they can get for the least they can and they will burn up and turn them over every 6 months. Like I said, I am on currently on contract with a Major player in the Computer Hardware industry and I was sourced for this position through a Standard Agency and I am very happy with the results. (Message edited by slowride on May 14, 2011) | ||
| Greg_e |
If this contact was actually number three, then they should mention why they need this info. I still wouldn't give them this info from a random email or phone call, last four number of soc. security with BOD can get you into a lot of accounts. | ||
| Whatever |
I am not giving them anything. Micah, this is very good information... the kind of information I need to know... Do you have a list of the Big 5 or Standard Agencies you know of? I would really like to start contacting these agencies to get some help. I think I got lucky twice with Monster because all I sent in was my resume and then got called in for an interview both times. I got a 25% pay raise the first time and a 30% pay raise the second time (from an underpaying gov job). From what I understand there is only a 1/10 chance of that happening again. I have a preference for working with a Native American Corporation, but I am only aware of two... SpecPro, Inc (Bristol Bay Native Corporation) who I just worked for in Wisconsin... and then OTIE, which is based out of Milwaukee and part of the Oneida Nation. I still have not made up my mind what coast I want to be on... East Coast (NC, SC, GA) or West Coast (CA) or Gulf Coast (LA, TX). It would be so great to work with a nationally established agency that can tell me what the market is like in my field in all areas. My first preference is North Carolina, but what makes it a great place to live makes it a bear to get hired in industry. The pay in State Gov jobs is not up to par (I would say 40% to 60% of what I made at my last job) and the Fed jobs are really damn competitive. Please let me know what you know ! I would love to give you a call and talk more about this if that is ok with you I can PM my phone number. I really need this kind of help. I am looking at getting out of debt (only $2700 to go) after struggling with it for a good 20 years (no lie) and my goal is to be out of debt completley in the next year as I am way behind on retirement (which went completely out the window during my last layoff). Thanks ! Char | ||
| Court |
I've never see a REAL job come out of any kind of recruiter all the way from Korn-Ferry to Joe's Good Job. Nearly all are, based on my observations and from my perspective (construction) are scams. I'd not give ANY information to an intermediary. But then . . . I'm one of those old white guys. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
The last three jobs I got though a normal hiring process were through monster. (The one non-normal hiring process job transition was due to the product line being bought by another company, with me included in the deal.) I suggest you update your monster profile once a day. I don't mean rewrite it! If you change even one character, it will be listed as a NEW resume  I wouldn't worry about the phishing thing. | ||
| Greg_e |
On Monster, if you go in and delete something, then add it back in and save is that considered an update? If not what about deleting a word, then saving, then adding the word back in and saving? | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
It's a file. If you edit it, the file creation date is changed. New files are sorted to the top |
