Description

Text received "Hi (name). I'm Benjamin Stein from Polk Auto Finance Inc. I have seen your resume on Indeed, and we think you will be an excellent fit for our team. Are you available to chat?" I said I would be available around 4:30, and they replied, "Yes, let me know once you're available." I sent another text at 4:30 and received a Teams link about a half hour later to speak with a Stephanie Seffernick, code and all. I typed the link into google instead of opening it on my phone, and it appeared to be a legitimate link, and took me to a teams chat (not a call) with Stephanie who was offline. I sent a greeting, and she came online a few minutes later. The conversation started off with the typical "hello, how are you", etc, with immediate responses to mine. It seemed normal until they wouldn't continue the conversation until I added a photo to my Teams profile, which I thought was weird. I offered to speak over the phone which was ignored. After that, the conversation was very choppy (3-7 minutes between responses) and the language they used was a little off, so I googled her and could not find her. I couldn't find her on any social media platforms either, so I looked up the company and called them. Polk Auto Finance is in Florida, and located within a buy here/pay here lot called Easy Drive, both legitimate companies (Polk's website looks a bit sketchy, a phone number is not available online, but Easy Drive is easy to find and they confirmed Polk's affiliation). They do not have a Stephanie Seffernick employed there. (they have also received a lot of calls about this and have corporate looking into it) While I was doing this, she sent the following messages - "We offer flexible working hours, The pay is $25.70 per hour plus eligibility for annual bonus program; You would be getting paid weekly via direct deposit or paper check. The maximum amount to work is 40hrs/week. If you are employed you are going to be working as a full employee and not an independent contractor. I believe working remotely won’t be a problem for you?", and, "You have a total of forty minutes to review the job details and answer the questionnaires for the interview session. A quick response is required, Shall we get started?". I told them I was no longer interested as I did a little research and the company she is 'representing' has no idea who she is. They immediately went offline without a response.