Gullible persons are identified, then asked to pay up Job seekers are easy bait for fraudsters Many get into engg just for ‘B-Tech-tag’

Job seekers who post their resumes online randomly are easy bait for fraudsters and are easily duped of their money, cyber crime officials warn.

Uploading one’s profile on every job portal makes it easier for fraudsters to narrow down on the ones who are gullible. “It points out to the desperation and anxiety to bag a job. In the run to get a job, youngsters post their resumes on every website without verifying its credentials,” said ACP Cyber Crimes, Harinath.

“After zeroing in on gullible candidates, the fraudsters approach and lure them into paying money by promising a job. The fraudsters even send out appointment letters and other necessary documents to candidates making it difficult to understand if the offer is real or fake,” Swati Lakra, inspector general pointed out.

“Unemployment, high competition and low vacancies turn candidates like desperate and make them believe that they can get a job from anywhere,” Ms Lakra added. She further said that they end up being exploited and lose money and valuable time.

Job seekers, however, say that taking help of online portals is a big refuge for them due to the innumerable job offers one can choose from. They admit that there is no mechanism to check to fake websites duping them.

Amudala Yashritha, a working woman, said she fallen prey to fraudsters when tempted with a better pay. She lost `41,000 when someone posing as an employee of a job portal called her and asked her to pay money towards different application and document processing.

“I was not aware of such frauds when they asked for money I provided my debit card details. Later, I realized they had duped me,” Yashritha said.

A candidate’s version resonates with Priyanka Padhi, a psychologist words, “The urge to emerge over the circumstances of living, career insecurities, responsibility of starting a family can put pressure on the younger generation to start earning at a certain age. So under pressure, to get a dream job, they apply ever where without following the basic principle of verifying the portals,” said Ms Priyanka.

Candidates have the pressure of proving the worth of their degree to families and friends and this leads them searching for jobs by hook or crook. “Job frauds happen because of both parties the candidate and the B.Tech graduate of 2016 batch received a mail from a well-known corporation, offering him a job but he was asked to pay `10,000 as ‘registration fee’. He paid the amount, post which he was asked to pay another `50,000, which raised suspicion.

Another B.Tech graduate from ECIL, who did not want to be named, lost `29,000 to fraudsters in May. The victim thought it to be an employment service and readily agreed to pay money for the ‘job agreement and appointment letter,’ which the fraudster said was refundable.

Since, the company in which he was offered a job aligned with his stream, he was eager to take-up the job without giving it a second thought. fraudster who are willing to engage in the act due to their own selfish motives,” according to Dr Prashant, a psychopathologist.

He also points out that when a considerable amount of time passes between getting one’s graduation and a job, it makes a candidate more desperate to search for a job, without checking the credentials.