Latest news with #USTechWorkers
India Today
11 hours ago
- Business
- India Today
Why Soham Parekh, the startup scammer, isn't the only one to blame
He had a catchy resume, whizzed past interviews and landed jobs at not one, but over 15 Silicon Valley startups. However, Indian techie Soham Parekh's only blip was that he was working at all of those startups at once - a moonlighting saga that has made him famous overnight and earned him an avalanche of how did Soham manage to pull it off in an age where background checks can be done with a simple click? Experts pointed out that it may be more than it meets the Soham's flight of fancy was busted by Suhail Doshi, co-founder of Playground AI, the founders of the startups where Soham worked wasted no time in coming out and accused him of deception and resume fraud. Yes, he might have exploited the loopholes of remote work culture, but how did he get past the verification process? Several users on X questioned how the startups did not even verify his location."He lies about his location. We thought we were hiring someone in the US. Even sent a laptop to a US address. Got it back! Allegedly, it was sent to his 'sister'," Suhail wrote while outing Soham's modus PROCESS?The US Tech Workers, a non-profit organisation operating under the Institute for Sound Public Policy, raised a pertinent question. How did Soham get past the I-9 employment eligibility verification process?As per rules, employers in the US have to mandatorily fill Form I-9 to verify an employee's identity and legal authorisation to work in America. It has to be substantiated using documents such as a valid visa and Social Security Number (SSN).SSN is a nine-digit number issued to US citizens, permanent residents, and temporary or working case raises questions about whether the startups that hired him diligently followed the verification process or bypassed it completely in a bid to hire talent media users pointed out that the startups might have remained silent as it was a win-win situation - get talent without having to break the bank."We all know the reason why - the amount paid would have been much less than what others based in the US would have demanded. So, the companies who are just blaming it on the employee are either being too naive or just plainly deflecting the blame on the weakest link," a user tweeted, "Now, it's managers who want to delegate before they can afford, so they hire cheap foreign labour so they can sit back and post about how great their startup is."Moreover, none also bothered to verify his resume. Sharing Soham's CV, the Playground AI founder pointed out that 90% of the content was fabricated, and the provided links were no longer WORK FRAUDadvertisementHowever, the story doesn't end the magnitude of the deception started unravelling, another US-based entrepreneur mentioned how the Indian techie used the tensions between India and Pakistan during Operation Sindoor to "guilt-trip" AI co-founder Arkadiy Telegin, who shared screenshots of his chats with Soham, claimed that the Indian techie pretended to be in a conflict zone during the hostilities and cited it for the delay in completing his said the Soham Parekh story was just "the tip of the iceberg", exposing a growing trend of remote work fraud.A viral LinkedIn post by Deedy Das, a tech investor, has detailed how several such Soham Parekhs were exploiting the remote model - using mouse jigglers (a tool with which one can simulate the movement of a mouse) and outsourcing his post, the investor cited a Reddit thread where an engineer claimed to be earning USD 8,00,000 per year juggling five the row, Soham, in an interview, said his actions were driven by a financial crunch and suggested that he worked 140 hours a Deedy Das suggested the claims to be misleading and fraud and pointed out flaws in his resume. "All this while saying he didn't want to 'center a div for 6hrs' in BigTech," Das tweeted.- EndsTrending Reel
Hindustan Times
16-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Trump sanctions 120,000 H-1B visas amid tech crunch. What does it mean for Indian professionals?
The Trump administration has approved more than 120,000 H-1B visas for fiscal year 2026. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services' (USCIS) newly published data revealed that 120,141 H-1B visas have been granted so far. US Tech Workers posted on X, '120,141 NEW H-1Bs selected for FY2026. Demand remains high despite layoffs—a clear sign U.S. workers are being replaced.' Since Donald Trump took office again, the issue of the H-1B visa program has come up once more, mainly among Republicans. There are conservatives who use technology, and then there are the hardline protectionists who stand by the America First view. ALSO READ| Donald Trump's birthright citizenship case hurting his family? Melania, Barron doubts answered USCIS opened its visa registration process from 7 March to 24 March amid huge layoffs. TechCrunch reported that more than 50,000 tech workers lost their jobs across the U.S. between January and April 2025. Still, companies continue to apply in large numbers for H-1B candidates, many of whom are Indian professionals. The newly approved visa numbers are slightly lower than the 135,137 selected for FY2025 and the 188,400 approved for FY2024. Indian engineers, data scientists, and software developers make up the largest share of H-1B recipients each year. Human Events Daily host Jack Posobiec slammed this in his podcast despite Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy vouching for it, saying, 'America first means the American people first... We are not tech company first. We are not military-industrial complex first. No, we are American people first.' 'The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers... comes down to the c-word: culture,' Ramaswamy defended. 'If we're really serious about fixing the problem, we have to confront the TRUTH.' ALSO READ| Are Trump and Melania separated? Biographer makes bold claim, White House responds Elon Musk also weighed in on the issue, suggesting, 'Easily fixed by raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H1B, making it materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically.'
