IMMIGRATION MATTERS
How to spot a fake job offer
By Charles Kelly
13 April 2009
Whilst enjoying the Easter break you may find among your many unsolicited emails a wonderful job offer in the UK. Unless you are in the type of profession where headhunting is common, you should treat such an approach with the utmost caution.
Last week, ABS CBN reported that the Department of Labor and Employment in the Philippines issued a warning to Filipino workers and Philippine recruitment agencies against recruiters offering jobs in the United Kingdom via email.
Labor Secretary Marianito Roque issued the advice following an explosion of "fraudulent recruitment through the Internet offering non-existent jobs in the UK".
Applicants are sucked in by attractive job offers which later require them to send money as payment for work permit applications or VAF visa applications at the British embassy in Manila.
Immigration Matters receives hundreds of emails from Filipino, Indian and other nationals requesting advice on these so called job offers.
The bogus offers look plausible and would be difficult to distinguish from a genuine vacancy by anyone living outside the UK. However, on closer inspection it is quite easy to see that the emails are in fact nothing more than a variation on a well known scam.
The 'fake job offer' scam is a simple but crude attempt to extort money from vulnerable and often desperate job seekers who will clutch at even the slightest hope of finding work abroad.
The emails are usually run by gangs working outside the UK where they are difficult to trace and the millions of spam emails are allowed to continue virtually unchecked.
The emails or 'bait' contain a hook to catch the unsuspecting victim - it could be a job offer abroad, but could equally be a 'lottery win' notification or a bank official claiming to control the fortune of a deceased millionaire.
Once the victim takes the bait they will be taken through a series of steps eventually leading to sending a small or large amount of money or even a series of payments until they realise they have been conned.
Telephone numbers are not UK Landlines
The 'employers' can be genuine companies, like large hotel groups, who are unwittingly being used in the illegal racket. In other cases they are fictitious businesses with similar names to real firms.
The first thing I notice is that although the telephone numbers may look like UK numbers, they are not UK landlines, but can be answered from anywhere in the world. Most medium to large businesses in Britain work from proper landlines. Smaller companies or consultants may work from a mobile, but this will usually be registered in the UK.
The type of job offered tends to be for low or semi skilled occupations such as Waiters, Kitchen Hands and Chamber Maids.
These jobs are not open to non EU migrants under the Points Based System (see UK Border Agency website), which replaced the Work Permit scheme last November.
Employers wishing to recruit non EU migrant workers must first be licensed as a 'Sponsor' by the UK Border Agency.
Employers issue a 'certificate of sponsorship' to the qualified worker who then applies online for entry clearance at the British Embassy.
Applicants must score sufficient points to qualify for entry - see Working in the UK.
Full Story and... 6 ways to spot a fake job offer
Six top tips from recruitment and immigration specialist Cynthia Barker.
