While remote work has made it easier and more prevalent, "hiring fraud" has been around forever. Especially in larger corporations, where interviewing was done by loosely associated teams, and the faces of all the in-person candidates blended together or were rapidly forgotten. I personally witnessed this 3 or 4 times back in the 90's, while an employee of a Fortune 5 company.
Contracting agencies were the worst with the bait-and-switch game though, even prior to H-1Bs.
Contracting agencies were the worst with the bait-and-switch game though, even prior to H-1Bs.