Outer Order Media: New England Weird Renaissance

“You’re Hired! (Just Kidding): Inside the Fake Remote Job Funnel” Static City Cyber Desk – by Lou Toad Yesterday, somewhere between job applications, Coltrane, and coffee, an email slid into my inbox with the subject line that makes every job seeker’s heart twitch: > [Application Received] Thanks for applying! The sender? alerts@powerjobopenings.com. No company name. No logo. No clue who they actually were. Just a cheery: > “The position you applied for has been filled, but after further reviewing your resume, we believe you’d be a great fit for another remote position we currently have available.” Another remote position. Unnamed. Undefined. Unverifiable. All I had to do, they said, was schedule a meeting with their founder through a Calendly link. So I did what any self-respecting barbarian baroque job seeker would do: I put on my cyber-ecologist hat and treated it like a threat-hunting exercise. What I found is the blueprint for a scam a lot of us are walking straight into. --- 1. The Email That “Kind Of” Looks Legit On the surface, the message hit the right notes: Polite greeting (“Hi Laurence,”) Thank-you for my interest Promise of “another remote position” Calendly link to book time with the “founder” Signed “– Hiring Team” But look closer: No actual company name No job title No location, no website, no signature block Generic sender: alerts@powerjobopenings.com It’s the hiring equivalent of a person at a party saying, “Trust me, I’m from… somewhere.” --- 2. The “Interview” That’s Actually a Webinar Minutes later, a second email arrived: “Company Meeting/Interview”. Different sender, different tone, same mystery: My “interview” with Jacob (Founder) was “confirmed.” It would be held on WebinarJam, a platform used for large online presentations. It referred to the event as a “webinar” in the fine print. Real companies don’t use webinar software for one-on-one interviews. They use Zoom, Google Meet, Teams. Something where you can look another human in the eye. This wasn’t an interview. This was a sales funnel. --- 3. Red Flags, Static City Edition Let’s catalogue the signals for the crime lab: 🚩 Red Flag #1 – Mystery Domain powerjobopenings.com sounds like an SEO fever dream, not a company. No brand, no product, just vibes and verbs. A real employer’s email usually looks like: @companyname.com That company has a Googleable footprint: website, LinkedIn, employees who look like real humans. Here? Nothing. --- 🚩 Red Flag #2 – “Another Remote Position” With No Details If a recruiter truly likes you for a different role, they say: > “We think you’d be a fit for our Product Support Specialist position…” This email just said “another remote position.” That’s not a job. That’s a hook. --- 🚩 Red Flag #3 – Calendly + WebinarJam Combo Calendly itself is legit. WebinarJam itself is legit. But together, in this pattern, they’re the calling card of scam operations: 1. Calendly to mass-schedule “founder calls” and look startup-y. 2. WebinarJam to drop dozens of applicants into the same “interview” presentation where a “founder” pitches an “opportunity.” It’s not a conversation. It’s a stage. --- 🚩 Red Flag #4 – Anonymous People “Jacob (Founder).” “Emily (Hiring Manager).” No last names. No LinkedIn. No company. When people don’t want to be Googleable, believe them. --- 🚩 Red Flag #5 – The Legal Grey Mist No: Company address Company registration Privacy policy HR contact Equal opportunity language It’s all air. You’d be giving your personal data to a ghost. --- 4. What These Scams Usually Turn Into I’ve seen enough of these flows (and so have a lot of threat intel folks) to know the likely script. Version A – The Paid Training Trap You attend the webinar. The “founder” talks about: Amazing growth Six-figure remote income “Only a select few make it this far” Then comes the hook: > “To get started, all new hires must complete our mandatory onboarding course for $XXX.” You pay. The “job” evaporates. They walk away with your money. --- Version B – The Fake Check / Equipment Scam Same beginning, different act two: > “We’re going to send you a check to buy equipment from our approved vendor.” The check is fake. Your bank credits it temporarily. You pay the “vendor.” The check bounces. You’re on the hook. --- Version C – PII Harvest Or they just go straight for: Social Security number Date of birth Address Bank info for “direct deposit” That’s not a job. That’s identity theft with HR letterhead. --- 5. How To Defend Yourself (Job Seeker Threat Model) Here’s a quick Static City Job Scam Playbook you can use or share. ✅ Step 1: Verify the Domain Google the domain (whatevercompany.com). Look for a real website, not a one-page template. Check for employees on LinkedIn who list that domain. If nothing comes up but job posts and vague promises, that’s a red flag. --- ✅ Step 2: Verify the People Ask for the recruiter’s full name and title. Search their name + company on LinkedIn. Real people leave footprints. --- ✅ Step 3: Verify the Role Before any interview, you should have: A job title A job description A clear department or team Some sense of pay range / schedule / responsibilities If all you get is “remote position,” you’re not being hired — you’re being processed. --- ✅ Step 4: Watch the Platform Choice Zoom, Meet, Teams → common for interviews Webinar platforms → common for sales pitches If you’re being funneled into a webinar, treat it as advertising, not hiring. --- ✅ Step 5: Hard Boundaries Never pay for “mandatory onboarding.” Never deposit a check and forward money to a third party. Never send SSN, full DOB, or banking info before you’ve received a verifiable written offer from a verifiable company. --- 6. How To Fight Back (Without Becoming Batman) You don’t have to cape up and doxx people to make a difference. Here’s how to push back safely: 1. Mark the email as phishing/spam in your mail client. 2. Report the Calendly link to: trust@calendly.com. 3. Report the webinar event through WebinarJam’s abuse channel. 4. Share experiences with friends, job-seeking groups, and online communities. 5. Post a public warning (“If you get emails from X domain inviting you to a WebinarJam ‘interview,’ be careful.”) Every report is sand in the gears of their little machine. --- 7. Why This Matters (Beyond My Inbox) Job hunting is already brutal. People are tired, broke, and hopeful. That’s exactly who scams like this are built for. They weaponize: our need for income our desire to be chosen the loneliness of the search If you’ve ever fallen for something like this before, you’re not stupid. You were targeted. The point of this exposé isn’t “look how clever I am for spotting it.” It’s: Look how carefully you have to protect yourself when you’re just trying to work. --- 8. Final Transmission from Static City So no, I didn’t attend the “interview.” I won’t be buying anyone’s magic onboarding package. And powerjobopenings.com can stay where it belongs: in the spam folder of history. If any of this sounds like something that hit your inbox recently: Pause. Investigate. Talk to someone you trust before you click. And if you’re running a real company, hiring real people: Put your full name on your emails. Stand behind your domain. Treat job seekers like humans, not leads. Static City is listening. And we’re not afraid to shine a little weird neon light on the dark corners. — Lou Toad Outer Order Media • New England Weird Renaissance