The Rise of the LLM-Powered Scam Recruiter

Now for something I haven't shared yet but have been meaning to. I almost got LLM-powered fake-recruiter scammed.

I have no idea how they actually found me, but I have a few guesses that have to do with leaked emails, and being searchable on LinkedIn. Yes, LI can be a liability, too, especially if you make it seem like you're in a vulnerable position.

They emailed me directly saying I was recommended for a job. It said it was from Lockheed Martin. (Hey LM, if you see this, happy to send you any info I got on them.) Their signature and footer was pretty convincing, if very old-looking. Fine, I'm sure not everyone has the prettiest email footers. But interestingly enough, the social links including the LI contained were real, or at least, contained the same photo. Ok, I'll bite, I thought. Nicer than cold applying for the 100th time today.

So I responded, and they said they had some confidential JDs they could email me (over insecure email). I just needed to send my resume to them. They responded with a vague Senior Engineer position. For a moment, I thought it was plausible. I wanted to believe them, in some small way. I mean, who doesn't, if you've been placed in a vulnerable position? But things got funky pretty soon after that.

Before I share with you all the tea I want to spill, let me first list the red flags that went up one by one.

1. Telling me I was recommended for a position, but no mention of the position, or the recommender
2. Responses came immediately with too much extra text
3. Too good to be true: If it sounds like it is, it probably is
4. It was sent from some kind of "personal" gmail account, not a corpo one
5. Evading and not answering my questions
6. Responding at very odd hours, despite the fast responses and tons of writing
7. Not reflecting anything I said directly, but instead just spewing things they thought I wanted to hear
8. IMMEDIATE pivot after a certain turning point in the conversation to asking me for money ‼️
9. Sudden, extremely urgent deadline as soon as the "recommendation" to pay someone was made.

So I realized then and there it was a scam, likely AI powered, I told my friends and partner, with whom I was trying to figure out who recommended me, "I think I was about to get scammed." There was, thankfully, no way in hell I was paying anyone money to apply to a job I was "recommended for by <nobody I know>."

Anyway, please be on the lookout, especially if you or someone you know is undergoing a layoff or other hard times. It's a wild world out there.

Without further ado, here's the receipts. After the final screenshot I have no longer engaged with this LLM recruiter, as I have exhausted my interest in this particular line of robots attacking me 🤣