Mid-pandemic I applied for a digital marketing at Pro Photo Supply here in Portland. The hiring process was disorganized and I couldn't get a straight answer about what the position would entail from multiple interviewers. Suddenly, I was offered the job! However, despite the offer email being addressed to me, the offer letter had somebody else's name on it. Did they mean to hire somebody else, or this was just a clerical error?
Since there was no deadline on when I had to provide a decision on the offer, I asked to meet once more about some questions I still had. They said yes, let's meet tomorrow. Ten minutes before the meeting, they called me and rescinded the offer, saying the position went to somebody else with more experience. Then why offer me the job in the first place?? Later on, I received a contradictory email from the manager, saying they wanted to go with someone who showed more decisiveness. I'd rather make an informed decision than a rushed one, so in the end I felt like I dodged a bullet avoiding working for such a dishonest and disorganized company.
Then I heard that many companies commit PPP Fraud by doing these “false hirings,” where they can show the federal government that they are using the loan money to hire, but never end up bringing new employees on. This site shows that Pro Photo Supply received nearly $500,000 of loans!.
While I don't have direct evidence, my suspicion is that Pro Photo Supply is involved in PPP Loan Fraud. Has anybody else experienced anything like this?