I once received a suspiciously too good to be true job offer, and at the last minute they surprised me by insisting I use a specific laptop they insisted on mailing me. One they would possess prior to me, and "configure" as superuser, before giving to me to use while working for them.

I declined, as diplomatically as I could. I should not have to spell out in precise detail how dangerous to me their proposal was. In the eyes of an adversary/APT predator: ignorant --> naive --> gullible --> prey --> profit. Rinse, repeat, scale up.

Isn’t this how most tech companies, if not most companies in general, operate? Ive only had one BYOD job in 15 years. Even if you’re a contractor this is common.

hmm, i don't understand why you think this is suspicious. doing their stuff on their machine is ... fine i guess?

You'll have to spell it out for me the problem, because that seems entirely what a corporation with an actual IT department would do.