Scam Type
Employment Scam
Business Name Used
Accelerance
Date Reported
Nov 01, 2022
Victim Postal Code
80111
Total Dollars Lost
0
Scam Description
Flock is being used by a scammer to defraud job seekers. It is possible that Accelerance is also a victim or possibly complicit. The person whom I contacted at Accelerance was very unprofessional. Let’s start from the beginning.
I got an email thanking me for applying for a job I did not apply to, although I have been applying for jobs through job boards. Curious, I use a link in the email to log into Flock, a collaboration app with several other, possibly fake entities asking me to say hello. I did but they did not respond. The so-called recruiting manager, Kenneth Williams, invited “us’ to a briefing on Friday, 10/28 at 8am, MDT. I attended, he provided boilerplate from the Accelerance website (as I later found out), asked a series of questions including name, address, phone number email address, wanted to know what banks we used for direct deposit, and later told us that we would have to open a Chase account for funds. That was a red flag right there, so I looked back to see if there were other flags. He “required” us to attend other session on Saturday 10/29 at 8am, but he did not show up. However, there were documents showing that he made me a job offer, sent an offer letter, and wanted a speedy reply. I sent him an email that I would be back Monday but I would be unavailable for the rest of the weekend. On Monday morning I contacted Accelerance. My suspicions follow, and my contact with Accelerance.
First, the person claiming to be Kenneth Williams, kennethwilliams@acdcfan.com, was using a high risk email address, and certainly not professional. See the domain for more information.
Second, in his texts, he misspelled the company name, Accelerance, more than once. An HR person would never do that.
Third, he insisted that all candidates had to use a Chase account for direct deposit. This in itself is suspicious because direct deposit doesn’t care what bank you use as long as you have a valid transit routing number and account number.
Fourth, he indicated that they would ship equipment to us, but we would have to pay the freight before we would receive it, and we would be reimbursed via this Chase account. This was a big red flag.
So I called Accelerance at 877-992-2235. Strangely, I was sent to VM on three of four options. On the fourth, someone answered, I asked for HR and he hung up. I called back, went to VM a few times, then it just rang. He also did not answer professionally, just “Hello”
I waited a couple of hours, and called again, but this time I was able to explain my suspicions. He told me that there was no job offer, nobody named Kenneth Williams with the company, accused me of being a scammer and to never call back. He also refused to give me HIS name. That was and is very suspicious.
The company address is 303Twin Dolphin Dr., Suite 600, Redwood City, CA 940656
The Google shot of the building looks great, but it looks to be only 2 or 3 stories high. I don’t know if they are part of the scam, but my interaction with them was totally not professions, so I wonder.
I am just trying to prevent other people from being scammed or having their identity stolen.
There is no gain for me other than doing the right thing.
One other thing, I got on Flock today, and he was doing it to another group, so I jumped in and broadcast to the group what he was doing, Many had their own suspicions. I am attaching a screen scrape of some of their comments.
That’s it. If you need more information, I will try to heol\p.
