An email arrives stating that your job application has been successful and you have been hired. Celebrations happen and then the nitty gritty gets read.
You need to apply for a work visa to UK and you shall have to pay upfront for this London based job. The money being asked for is a substantial sum but fades into the background when you see how much they shall be paying you once you reach London, more money than you have ever earned before and its London!! So you think why not.
You dont stop to think:
~ there is no employment contract or letter
~ the money being asked for by this posh London hotel is a little too much
~ they have asked you to transfer it within 48 hours to an ICICI bank account
~ the letter you got asked you to get a visa for NZ (not UK)
~ the advert you responded to appeared on a website
~ there was no interview at all
~ no one at the employing hotel ever spoke to you on the phone
~ you are willing to take a chance with all your savings in the hope of a better life
~ being from England the English in all the email based conversation is obviously incorrect grammatically and otherwise.
~ no contact phone or postal address has been provided to you
~ the cost of work permits/ visas is less than 1/10th of what you have been asked to pay.
You share the good news with a friend who has lived in UK for a long period of time, who shows surprise at the pay packet for a seemingly low skilled job. Friend shows doubt and offers to find out about it. Calls the relevant hotel and gets told..no there are no jobs, no they are not recruiting from overseas, if they did, it was upto them to secure you a working visa, and there is no one here by the name of the email ID who has emailed you, HR does not have anyone by that name... and yes..this is a scam.
You stop, you think, dreams and aspirations of a comfortable life and financial security get crushed. Along with despair is some relief that you were saved from spending close to 5000£ on a scam.
The UK govt has warned people about the increasing incidence of fraudulent behaviour and the rising number of scams that are around in this recession hit country. However the Indian government seems to have not warned its vulnerable sections of society of such things.
I feel sorry for those who fall for it. However my jaded eyes also notice that yet again, the more vulnerable people often get entangled in such webs of deceit and stand to lose what they have worked hard to get.
6 comments:
totally agree on that one. Indian government wont take notice unless there are thousands or crores of people who lose their money, and even then the efforts will be anything but genuine.
P.S: this is silentlyexpress.wordpress.com from blogger account :P
my first visit to your blog..thanks for your lovely comment
You're kidding! Good thing you had a friend to suss things out for you. It's disappointing but you have saved a whole lotta money.
i thought people usually see through such frauds..nahin?
Thanks.
No people dont always see through such frauds. Your desperation to get out and change your life is I think, directly proportional to the narrowness of blinkers you wear in situations.
The strange thing is that the harder the recession hits, the more willing people are to sacrifice their precious money to such scams!
Thanks for your comment on my blog, btw. First time here, and I really like your take on life - or the little I see from half a dozen posts. Blogrolling you, hope you're okay with that!
Thanks. Sure you can blogroll me.
Recession has increased the number of scams, yes. This only means scams are reaching further into society, where now rural/ semi urban people are also getting caught into it..which is sad.
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