I applied for the role through a third party recruiter. First interview was scheduled with my to-be-manager in a face-to-face setting at their office. He called in the person I would be replacing to ask me questions related to the role. All the questions were straightforward and easy to answer, the interview seemed to go well and lasted about an hour. I was asked to interview again with one of their Directors the day after, only receiving communications from the recruiter after hours. I accepted as it seemed they were keen to progress with my application quickly. I met the Director, again, face-to-face at their office. This interview was more a "get to know you" session as they're often called with minimal role-specific questions being asked. The phrase "I have no doubts you can do the job" was used. I was then contacted by the recruiter a few days later with the news that I was offered the role, all I had to do was provide references. I gave three of my previous clients who had agreed to be my references, and one co-worker. I was then asked to provide work emails for all these people. I was told by the recruiter, that it is the law in the UK to provide corporate email addresses for references. I went back to my clients and colleague and got permission to share their work emails. I was then asked to provide a previous manager's contact details as a reference. I provided two more previous managers references. At this point I've shared 10 individual email addresses and several phone numbers. That was over two weeks ago. Both the recruiter and agency are now not answering my calls or emails.