Despite the internet making it easy to double-check any information at short notice and at one’s convenience, people are still falling prey to fake employment agencies. Perhaps it is the allure of securing a job in a faraway country, removed from the hardships that haunt them here, that make these people easy targets.
Kochi’s nurse job scam
Last year, a Kochi-based recruitment agency flashed online and offline ads inviting applications for nurses for a well-reputed childcare firm in the UK. A large crowd gathered outside the agency’s office.
However, after six months, over 300 nurses recruited by the firm, and their families, are at the mercy of a welfare organisation in the UK as they did not receive any promised salary or facilities since January. Their parents have approached the state government citing the plight of their children abroad who paid around Rs 15 lakh for the supposed job.
A ‘call’ from Canada
Thiruvananthapuram, too, has been seeing a spike in such frauds. In February this year, the city cyber police arrested four people for swindling `50 lakh from a youth on the pretext of securing him a job in a Canadian firm. In April, the officers of the Sreekaryam police station in the capital city arrested a New Delhi native who had duped a woman of several lakhs of rupees by promising her a job in Canada.
A ‘jump’ to Japan
In Kollam, several people were duped by a firm that promised to get them agricultural jobs in Japan. The firm, GDGH trading company, operating out of an office in Kavanad junction, had taken `20,000-25,000 from each applicant.
The scam came to light after the firm’s own employees lodged a case against the owners for not paying them salaries. Subsequently, the applicants, too, filed a case. Sunitha, 34, a native of Haripad in Alappuzha, and Justin Xavier, 32, a native of Thottappally, were arrested by the Sakthikulangara police from Chandrapur in Maharashtra.
Official response
“We frequently check agencies that conduct recruitment drives here. After a spike in cases of fraud, we have ramped up our efforts. People have to be careful before handing over the money,” says Kochi City Police Commissioner K Sethuraman.
The State Special Branch-intelligence wing of Kerala Police had listed numerous agencies operating without proper licence or permit from the Protector of Emigrants.
Illegal agencies continue to mushroom
“New recruitment agencies pop up every week. Some of them, which were shut down by the police for fake recruitment activities, return with new names soon after. The money involved in the sector attracts fraudsters to prey on innocent job-seekers,” an officer says.
Last year, Muvattupuzha police busted two such fake recruitment agencies which duped over 20 persons offering jobs in Malta, Russia, Poland, Canada and Malaysia. “Both agencies, in total, collected over Rs 3 crore from complainants. A majority of their victims were Gulf returnees,” the officer adds.
Special unit remains on paper
A few years back, the Kerala Police had decided to set up a special unit in the crime branch to probe cheating cases related to jobs abroad. The idea was that this unit will coordinate with the CBI and Interpol to probe such cases. However, the squad still remains on paper.