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If you have looked for work in Charlotte recently, you may have been a part of the “2000” applicants to receive an email and text saying that you’re moving forward in the interview process. I was one, I want to share my story.
Last week, I started job hunting and I saw this company on LinkedIn. It was for a marketing position but the qualifications were for bartending, hospitality things like that. I didn’t think too much of it so I applied. The next day I get an email - from admin.globaltwenty4.com and a text from Andrea HR saying that they “loved my resume” and that they wanted to set up a zoom call.
Excited, I accepted and tried to research some things on the company. Oddly enough I couldn’t find much of anything. They did have a website but it was very vague, with no location, no social media, and no contact info. Naively, this was overlooked.
My first zoom interview was last Friday (March 14, 2021) - I dressed professionally just to be on a call with 35 other candidates, all muted and cameras off. The guy was British or something and he seemed nice, he talked vaguely about the role and the company, he said they'd expanded to Charlotte. Charlotte is a fast-growing city so I believed it, he then talked for about 15 mins and sent a survey monkey to be filled out in the hour.
So of course I fill it out and it’s just asking about what my interest and hobbies are, how I define success, just general things nothing specific. Honestly, at this point I don't even remember what job I signed up for (RED FLAG) we were told that they'd make decisions that Friday and if we didn't have back they'd move on to other candidates. Friday came and went, no email so I moved on.
Monday (May 17, 2021) I get another email and text saying I made it to round 2. So once again I dressed professionally and search the internet for more info on the company but nothing! Anyway, the next day(May 18, 2021) at 8:30 am was the second interview. I get in the zoom and it's me and 4 candidates, all-male and obviously eager to work. Immediately I got a feeling that something was not right. Also the night before at 9:08 pm I get a message text from Luis using what I think is his personal cloud to send me the zoom link..sus!
Anyway, we get into the zoom and Luis is sitting on a bench outside obviously zooming from his phone. That was weird, we did a 60-second elevator pitch and everyone just seemed so different. It wasn't adding up. One guy was a college dropout, another was a new father and seemed to be established in a petroleum company, me and one other were just recent college grads looking for work. Surely we all didn't qualify for the same role?!
Anyway, Luis shares his life story about basically how he migrated to America and learned English and he knows the struggle coming from a third world country. So all of that maybe lasted 20 mins and then we were put into the waiting room while he interviewed us separately. He told us that there were 2000 applicants and I guess the 40 that made it were doing simultaneous interviews that same day.
We had to take notes, we were not allowed to ask questions and the only question I was asked was why I wanted the job and why they should pick me. At this point I had checked out because it was a sales job and I wanted a stable income, it just didn't feel right. In the end, we had to fill out another survey monkey talking about the interview experience and the person who interviewed us. I was honest because feedback is important but I was so shocked I made it to round 3.
Did I mention we had to take pictures of the notes we took and send them to the recruiter? Anyway chile....at 10:36 pm I was texted by Luis that I made it to the final round. I was in shock because even though they offer “training” I don’t know how I qualified for this job. All I did was smile and take good notes. During my legit 5 min interview, he could not explain my role. He kept asking if I was up to it and kind of brushed over the fact that I was totally lost!
Finally, let me tell y’all how I found out that this was a scam. So I was talking to my friend and saying that I may be starting a new job soon blah blah, mind you, I would be relocating for this position. But I told her I’m unsure like they said we wouldn’t even be taking all of our money home and I’m not trying to ruin my credit and be evicted. I told her work-life balance was important to me and that it seems that wanted us to work all the time ALREADY. I didn’t even get the job and I’m tired. So I stayed up and I asked God to give me clarity because if I had to make the decision, I wanted to make the right one.
2:00 am today (may 19) I typed in Twenty4 Charlotte for maybe the 80th time and I scrolled down a little bit on the google search bar and boom! I see the word SCAM. Needless to say, I feel in a two-hour rabbit hole laughing hysterically under my covers as I uncovered this weird, cult-like, MLM, pyramid scheme fake business. I KNEW it was a little too good to be true and very sketchy.
I have screenshots of everything including Courtney Proctor who seems to be deep in. Apparently, they go to different cities and they change names. Search "Plugd Orlando scams" and also "Soho Marketing scams" It’s all there. They want people to start tomorrow. Can we blow this up? I want people to know. There was a guy in my interview who just wanted to be the sole provider of his family. Stay away dude, keep your stability and your sanity.
Anyway, the final interview is today (May 19, 2021, at 2:30 pm) I do not plan on going, but maybe I will. It will most likely be in a group setting so I can hold up my sign and unmute my mic to warn others.
Check out her companies on LinkedIn Plugd & Soho (Hint they are nonexistent)- http://linkedin.com/in/courtney-proctor-62a2b3149
Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions at all! Let's expose these scammers!
This article was originally published on Reddit by u/Ill-Specialist-8768. Republished with permission.
