Indian embassy thwarts 700 bogus job offers in six months

Abu Dhabi - Of 792 inquiries received by the embassy, only 66 turned out to be genuine.

The Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi has thwarted more than 700 fake job offers made to its citizens in the last six months, the Indian ambassador said.

"Between January and June 2017 alone, we have got 792 inquiries about employment offers, and only 66 turned out to be genuine. More than 700 were fake," Indian ambassador to the UAE Navdeep Singh Suri told Khaleej Times.

Raising the red alarm over the staggering number of fake employment offers, Suri said hundreds of enquiries are coming to the Indian Workers Resource Centre (IRWC) from Indian citizens outside of the UAE.

"Indian job seekers are being lured with bogus jobs with attractive pay packets. But it is a good thing that they are checking with us before accepting these offers. It shows their trust that the embassy will help. And we are happy to have saved so many Indians from falling into the trap," said the envoy.

"The IWRC, which is the welfare arm of the embassy, has the resources to check with the concerned employers, and verify the authenticity of the offer."

The embassy also checks visas sent by Indian jobseekers and verify the authenticity.

Conmen create fake websites and logos of companies like ADNOC, Cleveland Clinic, reputed universities like Khalifa University, Al Ain University and Paris-Sorbonne University, to mention a few, and send offer letters to people.

The gullible job seekers are then asked to contact a travel agency -- that also fictitious -- for the processing of visa, and pay up amounts up to Dh5000 or more as reimbursable fee.

According to UAE labour laws, it is illegal for recruitment agents and companies to charge job candidates for any visa or processing fee.

The offer letters look so genuine with company logos and signature of HR head, but the pay packets are often too good to be true. In some cases, people have received job offers through email without even applying for the job or attending an interview.

For instance, an Indian citizen was offered Dh50,000 as monthly take-home pay for the job of a librarian in Al Ain University this month. The offer letter that was sent to the embassy for verification also had additional benefits including Dh5,200 monthly car allowance, Dh43,000 annual furniture allowance, Dh4000 monthly entertainment ad recreation allowance and Dh400 travel allowance.

Another man received a Dh38,000 job offer with an attractive package from Paris-Sorbonne University on June 6, for the post of a Research Assistant.

Dinesh Kumar, First Secretary, Community Affairs at the embassy said there has been a spike in the number of fake job offers.

"We often put out alerts on our social media asking people to be cautious. But there are unscrupulous recruitment agents and conmen who up their game and come up with even more genuine-looking offers," said Kumar.

Job offers and visas can be verified by emailing IWRC at help@iwrcuae.in.

• Abu Dhabi