India’s young population, looking for career growth and job prospects, is hit by fake job offers and scams over SMS and through WhatsApp messages. According to a recent report by Hirect, a chat-based direct hiring platform, around 56% of job seekers in India are impacted by job scams during their job hunt. The report highlighted that job seekers between the ages between 20 and 29 years are prime targets of scammers. Now, the modus operandi is simple for scammers: lure desperate young people into paying money upfront by promising jobs with high salaries.
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Few job ‘offers’ take advantage of people by making them work online for free while some so-called job agencies simply ask for money for providing bogus references and hands-on training that mean little for landing up with a real job.
Of late, there’s an increased trend of luring people by sending targeted text messages on WhatsApp or even through SMS. For example, you may get messages like: “Dear you have passed our interview, wage is 8000 Rs/Day. Please contact to discuss detail: http://wa.me/9191XXXXXX SSBO."
Take note that any link that starts with “wa.me" is basically a URL to someone’s WhatsApp number and you can chat with that person without adding the number on WhatsApp. Sometimes, you may be lured to click on a shortened link which basically redirects to a phishing website with the name of an established organisation.
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There are several variants of messages like the above one that are used to trick desperate people looking for jobs in India. But what happens when you actually contact these people for a job? 3 likely outcomes.
Scammers ask for money upfront
No one is required to pay any money to the HR department of a company to get a real job. But scammers may come with ‘fees’ like registration charge, agency fees, application charge, training fees, offer letter fees and the list goes on. The scammer will first convince you that you have got the job and then will ask for money through internet banking or UPI to release the offer letter. They can come up with any silly charges or ‘requirements’ to dupe you. It’s needless to say that you just end up getting cheated.
You never get paid
If not money then you may be cheated with your time. There are job scams where the candidate is given a fraud offer letter from a company and are told to start their work. They are given assignments and the work looks pretty serious in the beginning. But the moment the candidate is about to complete the first month, he or she is told to pay some money to get the first month’s salary as ‘agency fees’. Alternatively, the candidate is never paid fully and is given 10% of the promised salary to make him or her continue to work. Sometimes, the fake recruiters simply disappear after the work gets done.
Pyramid marketing or personal data theft
Sometimes the job scam requires you to pay a registration fee and then you are promised a certain commission for bringing new candidates. While the descriptions and job profile may differ, these are mostly classic pyramid marketing schemes which wastes time, energy and of course, money.
On the other hand, some job scams are simply made to illegally harvest your personal data like CV, home address, government IDs, ITRs, etc. This personal data is then used for identity thefts.
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According to the Cyber Crime Unit of Delhi Police, scammers get bulk bio-data/CV of persons looking for jobs from job sites such as naukari.com. shine.com, etc, and using the details given in the CV – phone number, email, educational qualification, previous employment, etc., device personalised fraud emails promising job opportunities in reputed companies.
“The fraudsters run a call-centre setup and either pose as a job consultancy firm or impersonate the prospective employer itself They make the victim interact with multiple levels of HR executives to give an impression that they are genuine entities," warned the Delhi Police.
“Once the potential victim falls into their trap, they start demanding fees in the nature of registration charges, document verification, interview scheduling, uniform advance, etc. After extracting a large sum from the victim, they stop further communication," it added.
Job Scams:What you must check to stay safe
The Delhi Police has listed some safety precautions that you must keep in mind while hunting jobs:
1. Note that no genuine recruiter will demand large sums for registration, document verification, interview scheduling, etc.
2. Fraudsters impersonate genuine job consultancy firms by using similar email accounts, logo, etc. Verify the details of the firm before committing any payment towards job assistance.
3. Look for complaints and reviews about the said firm on online forums. If a significant number of people have shared reviews about their fraudulent activities, then probably they are cheats.
4. Verify from the said reputed employer whose job has been offered, about the genuineness of the offer. Use contact details given on company’s official website to seek clarification. Do not seek clarification from company officials referred to by the job consultant. They are probably part of the gang trying to cheat you.
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5. Do not get tricked by spoofed email IDs, Customer Care Numbers, etc. Cross-verify every claim with alternate channels before engaging with the said job consultant.
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