At present, internet is one of the main channels for job search which is increasingly preferred by job seekers since it is convenient, immediately responsive, and more diverse than other channels. However, job seekers may be the victims of internet fraud if seeking job online without deliberateness.
At present, internet is one of the main channels for job search which is increasingly preferred by job seekers since it is convenient, immediately responsive, and more diverse than other channels. However, job seekers may be the victims of internet fraud if seeking job online without deliberateness.
On 26 March, 2012, Office of Labour Affairs in Malaysia was informed by a Thai job seeker that he was offered a job as a site engineer by Cergas Oilfield & Engineering Sdn. Bhd. In the context of the job offer letter, it was located at No. 2435, First Floor, Persiaran Boulevard, Boulevard Centre, Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia; therefore, he would like the Office of Labour affairs in Malaysia check out the existence of the company.
According to the job seeker’s interview and the job offer letter, it found that this job seeker had left his profile at www.naukrigulf.com and soon after he received an email offering a site engineer job with starting salary at 11,700 US dollar along with other benefits. However, before processing for the work permit, job seeker had to make affidavit and certify the document with Malaysian court. Moreover, job seeker had to pay a fee of 910 USD via Western Union money transfer to Mr. Noresah Binti Ali as a recipient. After transferring money, he was informed to pay additional fees of 1,870 USD for certification of document with Malaysia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and registration fee with Ministry of Works as well as other operating fees by the person who claimed as a company’s lawyer. The letter also indicated that the company could not certify the affidavit and process the work permit if the job seeker refused to transfer the money. Due to a high operating cost, he, therefore, had contacted the Office of Labour Affairs to help him investigate the case. According to the investigation with the HR officer of Cergas Oilfield & Engineering Sdn. Bhd, it found that the company never offered job position for this Thai job seeker. Therefore, it is assumed that it was a fraud.
Office of Labour Affairs in Malaysia, therefore, would like to advise Thai job seekers to deliberately accept an online job offer, in particular, overseas job offer since there are internet fraud gangs that seek out job seekers’ profiles through a channel of social network. In order to tempt the victims, these scammers will contact their targets by offering high salaries and also prepare fake document which are similar to the original paper. If the job seekers do not recognize the regulations and employment policy of the overseas countries, they are easily deceived by the scammers. However, job seekers could initially examine the reliability of the company by watching over at the telephone number and e-mail address. For example, the telephone number should be an office’s phone number not the private number and the e-mail addresses of big enterprises in Malaysia often end with.com.my not -my.com. Moreover, job seekers should verify the information at the companies’ websites and usually, there is a channel to contact the company’s HR department directly. Furthermore, a legitimate company will not ask for any fee from job seekers. In practice, if the company needs to recruit high level positions or specialists, it will use the well-known recruitment agency, a head hunter, to seek for the qualified person and the company will pay for the agency by itself. Therefore, job seekers who use an internet channel to seek for the jobs should contact the Royal Thai Embassy or the Office of Labour Affairs at overseas to check out the company and should not prepay any expense.
For further information, please contact at the Office of Labour Affairs in Malaysia Tel. No. 03-21455868/21456004
