Description

I applied to a job posting via LinkedIn for Gap Inc. I was contacted by a person representing herself as a Hiring/Talent Acquisition Manager at Gap Inc. arranging for an interview via Zoom, indicating they hiring urgently. I interviewed for the position with a person, indicating they were a member of the HR team. I looked up LinkedIn Profiles to confirm the company, person, details, etc. They indicated, due to the urgency of staffing the position, they would contact me within 24 hrs should I have been awarded the position. The next day I received a Letter of Offer, and all looked very legitimate, with the company name, and full standard details of the Employee Contract. I reviewed and signed and sent the signed Letter of Offer to the HR person in email. They responded with details to sign into an chat/messenging app called Bitrix, and get in contact with their IT Dept person for further instructions for the home office setup and training process. I signed in and the IT Dept person gave me instructions as to what to order from their vendor that had an agreed upon company discount for the office order. I emailed the indicated vendor with the details. The IT person via Bitrix indicated to send him the vendor invoice provided so he can send to the Accounting Dept for processing. The HR person immediately emailed me back with a "cashier's check", instructing me to make a remote deposit to my bank account, in order to pay the vendor. I immediately knew this was not right, definitely for this size of corporation such as Gap Inc. I emailed the HR person indicating I am not comfortable in paying the vendor, asking why Gap isn't paying the vendor due to managing the asset expense and inventory. On Bitrix, I asked the "IT Person" why Gap isn't paying for it, and his reasoning provided saying they wanted their employees to "be comfortable with ordering their own supplies and to be able to order future supplies should there be networking or equipment problems". I told him that's the company's IT Dept's responsibility and that I was not doing that. I then further investigated the vendor name, and it does not exist with the details provided. I never received a response back from the HR person and was disabled within Bitrix. It was also a red flag how fast the emails came with the order invoice, and the cashier's check. From working in a global organization in my past, it was a red flag to me how a company the size of Gap Inc. would send money to an employee to order their own equipment. They are preying on people, who really are excited and needing a job, to deposit the money naively, following their supposed new employer's instructions, and get scammed in paying a fake vendor, and for the cheque not to clear in their bank for a variety of reasons.