13/08/2019
Being aware of fraud- Part 1
In January this year, Ajay Kolla, CEO of Wisdom Jobs, was arrested with 13 staffers. He had duped 1.04 lakh people out of ₹70 crore by promising fake jobs in India and abroad. This is only one of hundreds of such frauds being perpetrated in a country that saw the unemployment rate spiral to 7.6% in April 2019, the highest since October 2016, as per the centre for monitoring Indian economy. “Students fresh out of engineering colleges in small towns are easily trapped. Their parents have invested ₹4-5 lakh and want them to earn big money. Foreign jobs, especially in the Gulf, are coveted,” says Bilal Hasan, head of sales, Quetzal & Head Honchos. Here’s how to avoid being duped by scamsters.
Modus operandi: How they fool
Phishing
& mailing:
“By posing as freelance job consultants, scamsters scour multiple job portals like Monster,
Naukri
, TimesJobs and Shine to get access to their databases,” says Hasan. They send mass mailers and ask for a security deposit, interview fee or other charges, a prerequisite for scheduling an interview. While some disappear as soon as they get the money, others conduct online or telephonic interviews, even allot fake appointment letters.
Fake websites:
Duplicate sites of reputed firms, job portals or government departments are created. “They then post fake jobs, conduct tests and upload results, before asking successful candidates to pay for clearing the interview,” says Neeti Sharma, senior vice-president, TeamLease Services. Some set up temporary offices, hire staffers, hold interviews, and allot fake letters.
Campus placements:
Scammers pose as job consultants and directly contact the chairmen of colleges or institutes in small towns. They promise placements in top and reputed firms, and charge a lump sum, before vanishing.
Source -Times of india