Hi, I’m a freelance graphic designer and I almost fell for a scam. Self employed people get targeted easily.

Trust me, I know the red flags. But this one passed all my typical checks.

They shockingly did a good enough job that my husband fell for it to until things began sounding too good to be true to both of us.

Here’s what I typically check before I respond emails that are either job offers or potential new clients:

• Email Address (does the name and the email address connect in any way, is it gibberish?)

• Spelling errors (You would be surprised how many spelling errors there are in scam emails)

• When they don’t fill out my website contact form and refuse to do so (most times they will send all the information that almost matches the contact form but they usually miss some important pieces)

• They won’t schedule a call with you

• When potential clients won’t answer questions

• I’ll google you, yup… I’ll see if you have a facebook, linkedin, instagram, sports bio from high school. Whatever it is, I want to see proof you are a living person. I usually start with Linkedin.

This most recent scam I fell for was a large corporation asking to do an interview for a remote designer position. Which funny enough, the company had a job opening for a graphic designer on Linkedin. And I found the recruiter on Linkedin and co-workers. So the name of the person checked out with the company on Linkedin and multiple things on the Internet. They also found me from Behance, so it made me think “ahhh this is legit, that’s what some of these creative sites are for, finding creatives.“

Sooooo things were checking out okay here. Even the email address seemed legit…

I literally went through a ‘text-based’ interview which I know a lot more places are doing those before in-person or phone interviews. I was hesitant with that and should have followed my gut. Want to know how long that damn ‘text-based’ interview was… 3 hours.

Next morning, I was hired. Hired without speaking to anyone that I would be working with. I had just been interviewed by the “recruiter” and that was it. I asked if I could have an interview with the creative director or whomever I would be reporting to. I didn’t get an answer…. SO I went to the corporate headquarters website, CALLED and found the employees name that was apparently chatting with me, left a voicemail to call me back from where I left the message. When I told the person I was chatting with that I would like a call back, they immediately stopped messaging me. I also searched for their coworkers on Linkedin and wrote them messages. WHICH IS WHERE IT WAS CONFIRMED THIS EMPLOYEE HAD THEIR IDENTITY STOLEN AND SOMEONE WAS PRETENDING TO HIRED DESIGNERS FOR THEIR CORPORATE BUSINESS. The coworker said this has been happening for a few weeks.

The shocking thing was conversation with this recruiter was very normal, nothing that pried for information until the VERY END. They asked typical design questions I’ve been asked over the years for interviews. I never gave person information except my name but they already found that from Behance along with my email.

I’ve chatted with the REAL recruiter now, I’ve given them the information that can hopefully help them with authorities and their lawyers get to the bottom of this.

TO MY FELLOW CREATIVES, WATCH EVERY STEP AND MOVE. DON’T FEEL SHY ABOUT REACHING OUT TO SOMEONE ELSE FROM THE COMPANY OR EVEN CALLING THEIR OFFICE/HEADQUARTERS/STUDIO.

STAY AWARE MY FELLOW CREATIVES.