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I received an email from a person (let's call him John Milton just in case this is not a scam) whose email address is johnmilton@fb.com. He pretended to be a Facebook recruiter, interested in my profile in Machine Learning. In his message, there is a link to https://www.facebook.com/recruiting/call/sdSDFGDFfdfg where instead of "sdSDFGDFfdfg" there is some another hash-like string. This URL points to an interactive time table on which I can schedule an appointment. I have done it and I received a confirmation by mail in return.

Reasons to think it is legitimate

  • Apparently it is not possible to create an email address at fb.com. I know you can fake the sender of an email, but I checked at one point the mail went through thefacebook.com mail server.
  • I do not think there is a mechanism for a user to create a timetable form on Facebook, or any kind of page that does not conform to the standard Facebook template.

Reasons to think it is not legitimate

Does this appear to be a scam ? Are there things I should check ? The phone interview is scheduled Monday, but I would like to clarify this before talking to this "recruiter".

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  • Why do you think it's scam in first place? Too good to be true?
    – DarkCygnus ♦
    Feb 27, 2020 at 21:58
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    Scam website domains can be easily verified by double checking the SSL certificate. You know.. the shield or lock icon next to the URL. It will identify the URL you are currently on. You can also do a manual check by looking for a . at the end. So facebook.com is legit, but facebook.com.scam.addressblablablablab.io is not.
    – Shadowzee
    Feb 27, 2020 at 22:24
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    The domain is valid.
    – vkubicki
    Feb 27, 2020 at 22:46
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    Google it. I received (and still do) offers from Amazon which I thought were fake but I looked up the process and thats how they do it. They mass contact thousands of candidates hoping to find the best of the best of the best. They usually dont get those candidates but thats another matter.
    – solarflare
    Feb 28, 2020 at 0:41
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    Its on the Facebook domain and is using https, its a pretty safe bet its legit. Or someone somehow hacked one of the most successful and well-secured digital platforms in existence. And not a simple hack either, getting complete control of their webservers and the ability to inject fake webpages into their production environment. Hell, if it is a hacker and they're really that good I would want to work for them even more than Facebook
    – TheBatman
    Feb 28, 2020 at 17:35

3 Answers 3

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The phone interview is scheduled Monday, but I would like to clarify this before talking to this "recruiter".

I think it's safe to attend the meeting to get more details to be able to really tell if it's fake or not.

That would be better than trying to guess if this is fake or not, and miss a good offer because you got perhaps a little paranoid.

Again, this is a simple phone meeting. If you see anything suspicious during that phone call, are asked information you are not willing to share, or if the offer does not seem appealing to you, feel free to decline.

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  • And make sure they are calling you, not the other way around
    – Just another Java programmer
    Feb 29, 2020 at 8:01
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    I attended the meeting, the level of knowledge of the caller and the detailed descriptions of the structure and missions were enough to clear all doubts. Thank you and all posters for providing guidance.
    – vkubicki
    Mar 2, 2020 at 15:07
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    @vkubicki so glad to hear that :) good luck with your job hunt, and Welcome to The Workplace
    – DarkCygnus ♦
    Mar 2, 2020 at 16:25
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Does this appear to be a scam ? Are there things I should check ? The phone interview is scheduled Monday, but I would like to clarify this before talking to this "recruiter".

It does appear suspicious to me but as you said it appears to be legit. My advice is to proceed with caution and call them up Monday. If the interview sounds fishy, back off and do not contact any more. Just watch out where they ask questions about PII or ask about banking information right off the bat.

Generally speaking job scams involve process where they ask you to open a particular bank account at a very specific bank and they give you a check to deposit and ask for your account number. This scam involves banks allowing a small payday amount to be available when companies auto-deposit (generally $200 dollars for US banks) and the scammers know the bank policy. The scammers would withdraw the full amount and your check bounces and you're left to pay the amount since its your account. All this happens while it appears you're doing legit work then once th scam is uncovered, they quickly bail.

Other job scams involve the process of cashing checks for them, then they'll "pay you back." I don't see how this could happen here though as it is about facebook. This type of scam usually happens with being a so-called landlord for an apartment complex.

Most of the scammers involve real, actual companies so it would appear legit. A good way to verify is to call the actual company and ask if so-so works there. A smart idea is to pretend you "lost" their contact and want to verify your interview is Monday. Use facebook, not what the recruiter provided.

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Certainly you should always be on the lookout for scams, but a scam that offers you a job is one most people would be willing to live with. I'm not sure how a job interview scam would end up with your money, but I wouldn't give personally identifiable information to anyone I didn't know.

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    Typically as part of the hiring process the employee would have to give quite a bit of PII to get the job. Contact information, work history, desired salary range, name and contact information for references, work history, social security numbers, etc.
    – TheBatman
    Feb 28, 2020 at 17:38
  • Not to mention that many "employment scams" are aimed at actually getting the candidate to do something for you under the auspices of them being your employer. Usually, these are illegal things designed to look legitimate, like "here, can you process our Accounts Payable by logging into this online banking site, depositing these checks, and paying these vendors?" Only, after you've done the work, the police come knocking on your door because the account you logged into was stolen, and the check images you deposited were fake.
    – dwizum
    Feb 28, 2020 at 20:01

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