KOCHI: Jose Mathew (name changed), who heads the recruitment wing of a leading IT company in Kerala posted a message on his LinkedIn page recently cautioning job aspirants not to fall prey to job offers in his name.
A ‘walk in interview’ letter, issued in the name of a Mumbai-based software company, a copy of which is in possession of ‘Express’, says it board members were “too impressed” by the resume of the aspirant.
The company offered appointment to various positions ranging from executive, H R manager, civil engineer, production manager, medical officer, web designer etc in 13 companies of the same group. The company claimed it was urgently hiring candidates. The salary offered for positions in India ranged from Rs 56,400 to Rs 1,87,000 while the pay for posting abroad will be fixed after the interview.
“Some perpetrators are using my name to issue fake call letters. Kindly stay alert and don’t fall prey to such malpractices,” Mathew wrote in his LinkedIn page. The enormity of the situation can be gauged from the comments below his post.
“I received an email message and they are asking for Rs 8,500 as deposit,” commented one job aspirant. “..I just received a letter in your name with your address and phone number. I had doubts about the offer as it asked for a deposit. That’s when I searched for your profile and found this post. Thanks for sharing this post.”
Top police officers said the menace of job rackets was not restricted to just one software company. Fraudsters have been using the names of IT majors and firms in Kerala.
Recently, a native of Kochi received an email from the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd offering jobs. The mail said the candidate was shortlisted by Kochi Metro, and he was offered the post of ‘technical supervisor’ with a starting salary of Rs 24,000 and free accommodation.
The mail said there were no registration fees but he had to pay Rs 2,050, which was refundable with the first salary.
The modus operandi of the racketeers is to send call letters to job aspirants, promising various positions in top IT firms from fake or free domains. According to the officers, the bogus letters are often send from websites that look similar to the company’s official website. Once the money is deposited, the HR person will vanish. Such rackets are a major challenge to the police as thousands of job-seekers are duped every year.The job rackets mainly operate from New Delhi but investigations often hit roadblock as they operate using fake address.Kochi City Police Cyber Cell SI Pramod Y T said, people who are not familiar with the internet fall prey to such job rackets.
“Many employees working at Infopark have been receiving such emails and they forward it to us, without responding as they know these are fraud messages,” he said. According to him, once police receive a complaint in this regard they will identify the URL. But it is difficult to nab the culprits as they operate using fake identity and address from outside the state or abroad.I G Manoj Abraham, who is in-charge of the Cyberdome under Kerala Police, said internet is providing wide reach to the job racketeers. “Job aspirants could keep two things in mind. First they should not disclose personal details and never respond to the messages seeking money,” he said.
Nasscom to alert IT firms
Spokesperson of NASSCOM, an association of the IT-BPM industry in the country, said that its a law and order issue. “We will alert the IT firms about the fake job offer menace so that they can take adequate measures to caution the job aspirants about the fraudsters”, he said.