Job scams: Amid hiring freeze & layoffs, imposters loot candidates after promising jobs

Job scam fraudsters are thriving in India, as hiring freeze and layoffs persist due to the tough macro-economic consitions. The fraudsters usually masquerade as employees of recruitment firms and loot candidates in the name of agency fees

In March this year, imposters posing as employees of a recruitment firm selected some 30 candidates and asked them to pay up Rs 1 lakh to Rs 3 lakh in agency fees, visa application. On receiving the amount, the imposters disappeared. Later, the candidates got in touch with the senior management of the recruitment firm, only to find out that they were duped.

In the same month, a Pune based Software engineer lost Rs 4.6 lakh in a part-time job scam. The Pune police is currently investigating the matter.

As per Economic Times, hiring firms and job sites, including Manpower, Randstad, Foundit (formerly Monster) and Adecco are on high alert to prevent conmen impersonating them and taking advantage of unsuspecting jobseekers, including the newly unemployed.

Manpower has also started several awareness campaign on social media to educate the most vulnerable. The group's president Alok Kumar also mentioned to Economic Times that the scams have nearly doubled compared to six months ago.

"Fraudsters are thriving. Such incidents have nearly doubled compared to six months ago", told Alok Kumar to Economic Times.

The publication also quoted Randstad India's director Sanjay Shetty, who said that the aggressiveness and attention to detail has grown so much since he started his career.

"The kind of attention to detail and aggressiveness we are hearing of now is something I've not seen in the last 24 years of my career," Sanjay Shetty told Economic Times.

The target audience is mostly juniors, freshers, people who've been laid off or those keen to go abroad. The fraudsters go the whole length to convince potential candidates. They conduct interviews, set up offices and even register in official websites to access the resumes.