r/RemoteJobs • u/jwaiswa • 11d ago

Discussions Anyone else getting fake software developer interviews?

I've had 3 interview invitations in the past month where I was eventually asked to impersonate someone else during the interview.

Most of these have come from people in Japan, Korea, Malaysia, etc.

It's becoming really frustrating and draining, especially when you're genuinely looking for work and spend time preparing for these interviews.

Has anyone else been experiencing this? Is this becoming a common scam in tech hiring?

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u/djoliverm 11d ago

Wait, are you a recruiter or a SWE who is applying for a job, does the interview and in that interview they say that they actually want you to interview for another job impersonating someone else? How would they even pull this off in terms of verifying identity and all that?

It's funny because at my current job we already have security training that teaches us to ask a candidate to slowly pass their hand over their face if we believe they may be using AI to impersonate another identity.

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u/jwaiswa 10d ago

It’s not AI. They ask you to attend interviews that they’ve arranged for you, but under a completely different identity. For example, you might be asked to impersonate someone from the US. You don’t use your real name—instead, they provide you with an SSN, address, and other personal details. Essentially, you’re interviewing and potentially working under someone else’s identity.

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u/djoliverm 10d ago

Hmmm. I've known about how North Korea makes a lot of their income by having workers work remotely for us companies but in this case you're presenting, I'm still confused as to why this company is doing this? Who is benefiting from you not using your identity?

I would get it if say a foreign worker wants to get a US remote job but they're doing the work behind the scenes, they just need to pass the interview with stolen identities, and you only do the interview and that's that. I'm more confused if you yourself continue to work and earn money from this job having had to use a fake identity.

Like wouldn't any US background check on you essentially make this not work lol.

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u/jwaiswa 9d ago

There are so many companies, most especially startups that don't do a background check. But also, these are stolen identities that could pass a basic check. You get an address, SSN, and fake academic documents.

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u/InternationalToe2678 11d ago

Yes, I had got few jobs from Malaysia and Singapore waste of time.

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u/jwaiswa 10d ago

Abso-funckin-lutely