Ask HN: Has anyone encountered sneaky tricks from recruiters?

A contracting recruiter emailed me about a new contract he was trying to fill. The day rate was attractive enough (X euro per day) and I said I was interested. After this he tells me that the daily rate is actually X-50 euro per day. I told him I wasn’t interested.

A week later he tells me that he is able to get X euro per day after all so I tell him to submit me.

I go through three rounds of interviews, on the final one I am speaking to the team leader and she seems enthusiastic and wants to know when I can start.

I get a call a few hours after the final interview to tell me that they can’t pay me the full amount and how much below the daily rate am I willing to go. Their plan is to lure me in with the sunken cost fallacy. They know I’ll accept the X euro per day rate and they want to see how much extra margin they can eek out of the employee on the hope that they really want this new job. As a matter of principle I turned it down.