How to Avoid a Fake Job Offer

My high school batchmate and friend was offered a very good job, with a very attractive salary and other benefits including visas for the family and free tuition fees for the children. For three (3) decades she has built a very good reputation in her chosen field in our country, and for our batch, she is a source of pride for her local and global accomplishments.

She was very confident that things would go smoothly and by next month she could get herself out from where she was. Despite all successes, she was desperate to relocate and reboot her life. When she asked me to check the contract I noticed some suspicious items.

I am writing some reminders briefly to guide the readers on what to do in case they experience the same. In the past, a friend showed me the same style of a job offer, and I saved him with my advice. There were differences, but in many things they were the same.

1.  Check the scanned job contract letterhead. If the logo and other graphical contents including the signature show images like a blurred mosaic, not solid, something must be wrong.

2.  The job contract shows only mobile number/s and not the landline of the company they misrepresent. Google-search the mobile number/s to help you trace who owns it/them.

3.  Check the official website of the company they misrepresent. It must be a secured website. You can see a padlock icon at the search bar, left corner, and the letters 'https' which stands for hypertext transfer protocol secure. It does encryption of data between a client and a server, which protects against eavesdropping, forging of information and tampering of data. The website they show in their job offer is different and a mere duplication with some changes. And yes, it is not secured (http), no padlock icon at the search bar.  If you cannot see any official website, search more as it might be listed in an online directory of businesses.

4.  The official website has the 'Contact Us' page so you will know the true physical addresses and landline numbers. The fake one normally has a blank 'Contact Us' page or does not show any landline number.

5.  When you call the number as shown on the official website, verify your job offer/contract and the signatory's name. The true company staff will tell you that there is no person employed in their office by that name. If there is, contact him/her and verify things. Better still, forward the document/s you received.

6.  They normally use a free web-based email address in communicating with you. Remember that a company in good standing has its own domain name, with email addresses under such domain name. Google-search the email address/es shown in the document.

7.  They will ask you to get in touch with a travel and tourism company that will process your work permit and residence visa, and you will be asked to transmit money. Please do not do that. A company in good standing has its own human resources department staff and PRO (public relations officer) who are in charge of applying for your employment and residence visa as well as arrange your flight, and they will not collect money from you because it is illegal to do so.

8.  There are still some other procedures required like verification of your academic records for some positions so be alert when they will tell you that you will fly immediately without asking for those documents. Normally if you will be sourced from your home country, the hiring company will utilize a counterpart or a duly authorized recruitment company to do the pre-employment procedures.

9.  They will tell you that they will pay you your two-or-three-month salary in advance after you pay the travel and tourism office for the processing of your work permit and residence visa and that they will pay you a certain percentage of it offshore and balance upon your arrival. They will lure you with a high percentage of offshore payment as you will think you have money before you fly.

10. Google-search the keyword 'scam' and all the proper nouns and email address/es shown in the document, one at a time (say, 'scam' and 'travel and tourism company name', or 'scam' and 'signatory's name').

No matter how desperate you are to seek a golden job opportunity, be very prudent.

John Ortberg said,

Prudence is foresight and far-sightedness. It's the ability to make immediate decisions on the basis of their longer-range effects.

When my high school batchmate and friend asked my comments on the job contract, it was providential guidance. She called the landline of the company and found out that there was no HR director as shown in the document she received. Indeed God's protection is amazing! She thanked me. I could feel her big frustration and could imagine her sigh of relief.

Silently I prayed for those behind the fake job offer for God to enlighten them and shake the evil dust off. They do not know what a serious job hunter desperate to get out of a challenging situation, would sacrifice to eat the bait on their black hook. May they transform to utilize their talents and skills in a positive way.

I was a human resources practitioner for a long period of time, and here in the Gulf, almost a decade; some years I spent managing a manpower consulting company. My actual work experiences gave me wisdom in the HR field. When I help a person find a good employment opportunity, I am very happy because he will feel useful and I know that the family of that person will be benefited. When I save anyone from whatever form of harm in my own little ways, I feel an indescribable inner joy. Nobody, nobody wants to get harmed.

The world has its many sorrows so let us help reduce it by passionately making it sure that our family members and friends will not be victimized by those crooks offering fake jobs.

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Photo credits:  Pixabay