Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I understand this, although I disagree with the notion that a job is worth "more" in a high rent area than it is in a low rent area. But that is a different thread.

That said, when my kids were in school there was a phenomena that "Cupertino Schools are the best public schools" so parents wanted their kids to go to those schools. Which you could do if you lived in Cupertino, but Cupertino has higher costs than say living in South San Jose. So creative parents would make their "home" one of the apartments run by a "friendly" landlord who would "rent" them an apartment for $100/month, and give them a utility bill with their name on it so that the student could claim Cupertino residency and go to Cupertino schools. Other scams involved people offering to pay the utilities for someone who lived in Cupertino so that they could get that precious document which saved them $8,000 a year or more on private school tuition.

Depending on the difference in salary, I would not be surprised to see some of that action going on with regards to people's "Facebook home"



As someone who grew up near Cupertino, these "scams" have been going on at least since I was in middle school decades ago. One of my classmates rented a small trailer at the top of the hills that was just technically in the school district. It didn't even have running water.


Worth pointing out that if you lie to your employer and get caught probably the worst that can happen is you get fired.

But if you like to the government and get caught you can go to jail.


Already happened before. This woman tried that and got caught (though she's far more sympathetic than a tech employee doing it... https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/434051-sto...)


"You are charged trying to get your kid into a good school through mail fraud"

Eh. Hard pitch for a DA to run with this case. I don't honestly see a poor family being prosecuted for trying to get their kid into a rich school due to their property line. The DA office wouldn't like these optics. Jury?? Not a chance. If it were rich kids taking advantage of a poor school - the DA would run with it.


That DA got elected by rich parents who paid high prices for their houses to get in a good school district. Do you think they want their school "ruined" by poor kids sneaking in illegally?


Although I think it's unlikely that you'd be prosecuted rather than just fired, it is most likely a criminal offence to obtain a higher salary by submitting false documents.


Ya, upon reflection, you're right. Agree it will be unlikely in most circumstances though especially since not only would the company have to press charges, the local DA would also have to decide to pursue the case.

I wouldn't risk it if I worked for Oracle though!


Or IBM. Or so I heard.


I saw similar scheming in DC Metro for high school sports. Live in high school X's area, but their basketball team is terrible? Rent the cheapest apt possible in high school Y's area and send your kid there to play ball. For a select few kids, it was worth full-rides at Big State U, so I can't hold it against them.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: