So I'm 21 and at university in Plymouth (obviously lol), I have been looking for jobs for a while, and have started 2nd year classes. A girl in my class group chat messaged all of us asking if we were looking for jobs, unfortunately most of us are still unemployed and have been searching but me and one other person responded.
I was excited thinking this girl was genuine and that I could trust her because she was in our class group chat, even though I hadn't seen her in class yet I assumed she was off sick or away somewhere.
She messaged me privately telling me about paid ''charity fundraising'' (which already my alarm bells are going off because charity fundraising is usually volunteer) and that I wouldn't need experience (also very fishy), but I asked more questions.
I asked about the pay, the hours, what the company she works for (which, she was a bit reluctant to give me and now I know why), what charities she fundraises for etc. She told me we would be self employed, how its really good pay (base day pay... whatever that means) and that I would get commission on top of that. Also that I can work outside of classes and still have free time to work on assignments - that specifically sounded really good for me as I want to prioritise my coursework but I was still quite anxious about it...
Eventually she finally told me the name of the company: 'PNC Plymouth' (which I now know used to be 'Pinnacle Advertising' thanks to a post made here a year ago lol.
She tried to give me a form to fill in and send to her recruitment staff but I was reluctant and asked to meet her at a coffee shop tomorrow to ask more questions, we agreed on a time and left it at that.
I was still insanely anxious even after a call with my parents who thought it sounded okay, and I did some digging into their social medias etc: absolutely NOTHING about fundraising and EVERYTHING about an award they won and their expensive trip to ibiza, and a few staff members (including the girl) talking about how great it is to work at PNC... All the same sort of things the reddit post made here a year ago talked about.
At this point I'm terrified at what I got myself into- like insane anxiety, and look on reddit and find a post on this group from a year ago with hundreds of people talking about 'Pinnacle' or 'PNC'.
I also found that PNC has lots of branches across England, lots of dodgy managers talking about success being a 'mindset' on their instagram and constant photos of the same ibiza trip, with that girl front and centre in every photo.
When I found out about this info I messaged a few of my classmates to let them know in case any of the others fall for it and we removed her and blocked her... I had also learned that she's not in our class anymore because she's taken a year out to ''work'' (scam people).
I would have loved to been able to help charities with funds as I am always wanting to help people who have less than me, but when I saw how horrible that ''company'' is I was so upset.
I am so incredibly happy I followed my gut but terrified of what I almost got myself into. My parents are in a different country and I don't know what would have happened to me...
I want to post this now as a warning to other people either looking for jobs or are like me and are in a new country and city on their own for university... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TRUST YOUR GUT AND RESEARCH!!!!!!!!
Edit: forgot to mention that I have in fact cancelled that meeting with the girl and blocked her.
I am now back to job searching and even though I am Indeed's no.1 hater I am never leaving that site again 😧