Techie Avoids Remote Internship Scam, Shares Key Tips: 'Trust Your Instincts'

As hiring processes move online, job scams have become increasingly common. A Redditor recently shared their experience encountering such a scam, detailing the red flags that helped them successfully avoid the trap. In the now-viral post, the techie revealed that they asked one simple question to the alleged recruiters, which helped them gauge if it was a fraudulent internship offer.

"Sharing this experience because it perfectly reinforced one rule for me: pause, ask one smart question, and watch the response," the techie wrote, adding: "This started when I received an email via Foundit about a remote internship opportunity with an IT/AI services firm. Foundit is a legit platform, so nothing felt off initially."

Afterwards, the recruiters asked the techie to send a short audio introduction, explaining the projects they had worked on. Whilst the process felt odd, the techie said it was not unheard of, especially with smaller startups.

After a call, an internship agreement was shared, which made the techie circumspect as neither the technical interview round took place nor their testing skills were questioned.

"At this point, things felt rushed but not obviously fake. Communication was still mostly on WhatsApp, which was a yellow flag, but I decided not to jump to conclusions."

However, just before sending the documents, the techie asked the recruiters if the internship stipulated that new joiners were required to install any software on their personal laptops.

"'Yes, you need to install TeamViewer'. They added that it was TeamViewer Corporate. That was it. No hesitation, No follow-up questions. No "we'll give you an RDP or VDI". Straight to remote-control software on my personal laptop," the techie wrote.

Advised applicants to 'trust their instincts', the techie said the mandatory installation of a software that took control of their personal device was a 'dealbreaker', prompting them to stop with the recruitment process.

"At this point, everything clicked. If work is on a remote machine, there is zero reason to control my laptop. TeamViewer, corporate or not, means full access. Legit companies isolate environments, they do not remote into interns' systems. This exact pattern is common in remote job and internship scams."

The techie said they avoided being a victim, but it could have easily worked as the setup was polished which included a legit job portal, casual screening process, friendly tone and no immediate money ask.

"Always ask about prerequisites before onboarding. Never install TeamViewer or AnyDesk on your personal device. “Corporate version” does not reduce risk. WhatsApp-heavy hiring plus no interview plus remote-control request means walk away."

Check The Viral Post Here:

Dodged a remote internship scam by asking ONE simple question (trust your instincts)
byu/AlphaNexus17 indevelopersIndia

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'Never Do That'

As the post gained traction, social media users agreed with the techie's assessment, adding that no legit company would have forced them to download such a software on their pesonal laptop.

"Yeah, no legit company needs TeamViewer access to your system unless they provided a company laptop. It's your personal laptop, no one has the right," said one user, while another added: "Many companies provide laptops with TeamViewer and their VPN installed. Never do that to your personal laptop."

A third commented: "Small-scale startups do communicate on WhatsApp generally, but yeah, this stuff like TeamViewer can only be enforced if the company issues your system or a laptop."

(Disclaimer: NDTV cannot independently verify the authenticity of the claims made in the post.)