I've had two recent experiences that seem like a new frontier, at least to me. I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed this, or if they know who might be selling fake LinkedIn accounts backed by AI to apparently legit businesses.
A person working at a well-known devops vendor reached out to me repeatedly because my company is in the news. Then called me on my personal phone. I texted him back to stop and he was still quite perky and persistent. Eventually I realized I was dealing with an AI - saying something like "Hey, 'Scheduling a meeting with you today at 2pm' is a thing I would never agree to", would result in the schedule being generated. I ghosted on that meeting and then the AI pinged me again saying he was sorry he couldn't make that meeting since his grandmother was ill.
Just this morning the same thing happened. I'm feeling a bit ill and against my better judgment agreed to a call with a recruiter who cold-emailed me. The job seemed relatively specific and tailored to my needs, and even included a salary range which would be a decent bump for me. The recruiter had a long history on LinkedIn, although they seemed to have switched industries from writing for travel websites to recruiting. Plausible. When I got on the call, the person was not "Jason" (who had reached out) but "Jay" who proceeded to say that Jason was too new, so he didn't let Jason handle the actual calls. I asked why Jason wasn't on the call; wouldn't this be a great training exercise for him to shadow us? "Jay" started speaking slowly as if he was figuring it out in real time, and said "...yeah, sure, Jason could join us, if you want... if he's not on another call right now...?" I terminated that call right away.
A person working at a well-known devops vendor reached out to me repeatedly because my company is in the news. Then called me on my personal phone. I texted him back to stop and he was still quite perky and persistent. Eventually I realized I was dealing with an AI - saying something like "Hey, 'Scheduling a meeting with you today at 2pm' is a thing I would never agree to", would result in the schedule being generated. I ghosted on that meeting and then the AI pinged me again saying he was sorry he couldn't make that meeting since his grandmother was ill.
Just this morning the same thing happened. I'm feeling a bit ill and against my better judgment agreed to a call with a recruiter who cold-emailed me. The job seemed relatively specific and tailored to my needs, and even included a salary range which would be a decent bump for me. The recruiter had a long history on LinkedIn, although they seemed to have switched industries from writing for travel websites to recruiting. Plausible. When I got on the call, the person was not "Jason" (who had reached out) but "Jay" who proceeded to say that Jason was too new, so he didn't let Jason handle the actual calls. I asked why Jason wasn't on the call; wouldn't this be a great training exercise for him to shadow us? "Jay" started speaking slowly as if he was figuring it out in real time, and said "...yeah, sure, Jason could join us, if you want... if he's not on another call right now...?" I terminated that call right away.
What the actual f?? What is happening out there?