Fraud on the name of Employment (Jobseekers) is rampant across India. Fake job racket has been growing and spreading its tentacles and it is a booming industry now. Thanks to shrinking jobs in the private as well as public sector and hordes of students passing out of low-quality professional colleges. In a day or two the news about the fake offer letter, taking money in name of a job etc is forming headlines of newspapers. Easy accessibility to the internet has been a boon for job scammers. Scammers are aware of how hard it can be to find a job and they take advantage of this weakness by tricking people with the lure of job offers. They will tend to advertise on mediums used by job consultancy firms and real employers to tempt people. Moreover, they make promises about getting you a job offer that is actually non-existent and all they ask for in return is a payment for their so-called services. Youth looking for jobs get cheated in their desperation for promised shortcuts (jugaad), lured by informal brokers or crafty players with organized networks, office, and marketing setups.
Different types of Job ScamsHaving proper awareness about the common job scams prevalent these days can help one differentiate legitimate job opportunities from fake opportunities. Here we have tried to make an attempt to mention the different types of job scams common these days.
1. Money asked by consultants forgetting your jobs: There is the most common practice these days. Consultants ask for a nominal amount to get you a job that never exist.
2. Govt Job offer scam: In our country, youth is so fond of govt jobs and these scammers take advantage of this sentiment. Job seekers receive fake govt job offer letters from these scammers and they depend on Rs 2000-5000 for joining.
3. Fake interviews conducted by so called HR consultants on the names of big corporates – Artificial setup is made and so-called HRs(scammers) conduct fake interviews of candidates in the names of big companies. They charge money in a range of Rs 500- 2000rs for interviews. This is quite common in our country and much innocent unaware youth become prey of it.
4. Pay for online training/ offline training scam- In this type of scam, an offer letter is issued to job-seeking with is a condition to do paid online/ offline training before joining. Money is taken, neither training is done nor job is given.
5. Direct deposit before interview scam: The applicant is offered the job via email and told that all employees are supposed to pay the amount of Rs 2000 to Rs 5000 so that the joining date is given. A fake company account is given in which you are asked to deposit money.
6. Bait-and-switch scam—PR/Marketing: Fake job description is published on social media to attract youth to Start entry-level, develop transferable skills, work with the world’s leading corporations, advance to new positions, make money, etc. The scammers collect some nominal amount is name of registration fees.
7. Credit report scam: Generally, for this type of scam, scammers send emails mentioning things like…To proceed to the next step of the hiring process, you will need to get your credit score checked. The applicant is directed to a website where they will input personal information including name, address etc. All of these items are forms of identification and can be used by scammers to either open new accounts or access your current account.
8. Fake job application scam: This email asks to complete a job application online. The link takes you to a website where you are to fill out all info needed to steal your identity.
9. Background Verification Scam: In this scam, a job seeker is informed that a new position has just opened up, and a phone interview or an instant message interview is conducted and is asked for money to get background verification done.
10. Pay for startup kit scams: In this, companies may offer to sell you a kit you can use to assemble products to sell. You’ll most likely end up paying for a kit, and you won’t make any money. These form part of job offers which states work from home without any investment or just devote 5 hours a day and earn a good amount.
In case you have experienced or heard of some scam, please do write to us at jobscam@efos.in
How to identify that job offer is fake? There are several signs that can help you recognize whether a job offer is a scam. Here we are making an attempt to pen down the possibilities.
- Payment required: If you are asked to pay a certain amount for getting an interview done or getting a job, put your thinking caps on and beware, you might be in a trap. Do full research before paying anything even if it is a nominal amount.
- If Job mention requires no skills or experience or job description looks vague: If the job description is vague and you do not require any skills or experience to get it, this is usually the first sign of a job scam. Fact is that even an entry-level job requires some sort of experience or skills.
- If Emails received are from personal account without proper information: Emails that do not include any form of contact information for the concerned organization or are sent from a personal account, are usually employment scams.
- If you have not applied for job: Job scammers generally quote here that they find your resume online.
- If Job Offer given is unprofessional: Job offers containing grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and incorrect punctuation are definitely scam emails as authentic job offers would not include such errors.
- If you are offered very high salary with very less effort i.e when job offer is too lucrative to digest: These are usually the work from home scams where you get paid handsomely by working only for a few hours every day.
- If you are required to provide sensitive information: If your personal information such as date of birth, driver’s license number, bank details, or address is requested in a job offer, more likely than not, it is a scam. No genuine organization will ask for your personal details in the job offer itself We at EFOS have in the last 10 years taken note of the malice of companies/brokers offering either fake job opportunities or the ones with scant regard for ‘hiring and employee management practices .
We at EFOS have in the last 10 years taken note of his malice of companies/brokers offering either fake job opportunities or the ones with scant regard for ‘hiring and employee management practices.
We abhor such practices and warn about such players while counseling and communicating with youth, and; keep raising the issue of ‘fraud players’ and ‘inefficient policy administration at various digital and offline forums regularly. Do write to us in case of any such experience so that we can spread awareness at jobscam@efos.in
