Eh, don't bet on it. What if #2 was real, and #1 was someone stalking #2? Or an abusive ex?
If #2 doesn't get the the potential job, they could come after you for all sorts of things - emotional damages, economic damage (from not getting the job), etc. They might even be able to get the court to force you to give them the job, or at least waste years of your time and mental health dealing with legal hassles.
It's hilarious and awesomely entertaining, but don't do it if you have assets someone could go after, as eventually, someone will.
I mean, you're hiring a contractor off of Upwork, not from a reputable consultancy (to be clear, I'm sure established consultancies do shady shit too, but the risk profile is different), so I think the risk is pretty small. We're talking edge cases on a scenario that is already an edge case.
Yeah, I have to imagine they might be using a group account on Upwork and then misrepresenting the coder as a part of their team, but I don’t know enough about how Upwork works.
I posted about this blog post on Twitter and was directed a Reddit post [1] showing how little Upwork seems to care about fake reviews and stolen work product, so it appears Upwork has a history of ignoring fraud, regardless of what their terms say.
Scammer can open a bank account using a fake ID for Connor.
So they hire the real Connor but money goes to a foreign country, to an account owned by the imposter.
I think the fact that it's a zoom interview changes things.
Even if one of them is stalking the other, it's not like they're physically in the same conference room together. the worst they can really do is yell at each other.
If #2 doesn't get the the potential job, they could come after you for all sorts of things - emotional damages, economic damage (from not getting the job), etc. They might even be able to get the court to force you to give them the job, or at least waste years of your time and mental health dealing with legal hassles.
It's hilarious and awesomely entertaining, but don't do it if you have assets someone could go after, as eventually, someone will.