I Spy?

Came across this while browsing through Reddit yesterday evening. It's something that doesn't come up much in the debate (shouting match, really) on remote work; the difficulties that can be encountered in knowing that people are who they say they are.

Presuming that this person was recounting the offer being made to them accurately, a company is promising to create an entire fake identity for them to assume while working. Truth be told, it seems weird to me... it's possible that it's just about price; they'd charge the client $10,000+ a month when someone legitimately in the US or EU would ask for more, but I thought this is what outsourcing to south and southeast Asia was for...

Which is where a corporate espionage angle may come in... if the company offering the placement controls the VPN that the "employee" is using to fake their presence in the US/EU, I would think they can use that to eavesdrop on the connection. Or it could be something as simple as using the credentials the "employee" is provided to access company systems, disappear and then put the blame on whomever is being impersonated.

The fact that the poster realized that something didn't add up, but seemed open to giving it a shot (Why else ask about whether they'll actually be paid or the consequences of detection?) could speak to there being a lot more people being made offers like this, but who don't decide to ask the Internet for advice.

In the end, this is simply a random anecdote, but it answers, at least for me, why companies can appear to be so reticent to hire remotely. A person who's local may not be the best available person for the job, but at least they aren't potentially an overseas threat actor.