Jobseekers Beware
jobs provide a means of livelihood for Kashmiris amid job shortages. Although the growing popularity of remote work jobs post Covid-19 brought numerous opportunities for people seeking flexible employment from the comfort of their homes, it has blurred the boundaries between genuine job opportunities and dubious schemes.
Many realistic looking job sites with company logos convince job-seekers of their legitimacy. Scammers posing as human resource (HR) officials from well-known firms typically initiate scams using messages on social media platforms.
“I was tricked into participating in surveys in exchange for a substantial payment. But after completing the surveys, they requested me to pay a charge in order to collect the wages, or they won’t pay at all,” Wahid Ahmad, a job seeker from south Kashmir said.
Wishing anonymity, another victim said that she was offered a well-paid data entry task; but, after paying registration fees, she discovered that the job was fake and the material sent to her was riddled with errors. “Fortunately, the registration fee wasn’t much, but imagine how many others might have fallen prey to this,” she said.
Job seekers have linked the problem to rising unemployment, which according to them makes them vulnerable to job scamming. “In the face of rising unemployment, the desperation for jobs has driven many of us to seek alternatives in the online sphere. The fact is that we have limited job opportunities and this renders us vulnerable to the pitfalls of job scamming,” Wahid said.
“One has to be extremely cautious when pursuing online job opportunities. However, the harsh reality remains that we have to make a living,” Wahid added.
By March 2023, Jammu and Kashmir had the third highest unemployment rate in India – 23.1 per cent, as per the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). In July of this year, the unemployment rate in the Union Territory was 18.3, according to Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai. Recent data reveals that around eight lakh unemployed individuals registered with the Labour and Employment Department.
Sheikh Asif, a Srinagar-based IT specialist while talking about the tactics employed by some scammers said, “To win the confidence of their victims, these companies invite them to like and follow social media profiles and even proceed to send daily payments to the victims’ accounts, giving the impression that they are part of a genuine enterprise.”
“Subsequently, victims are added to a Telegram group where scammers establish sophisticated crypto trading platforms, urging individuals to invest and perform tasks to purportedly multiply their funds,” Asif said.
He added that, to further deceive victims, scammers create fake virtual wallets to give the impression that their money is safe and secure. Tragically, victims find themselves trapped in this scheme, sometimes losing their life savings.
According to Asif, scammers take advantage of the privacy features offered by platforms like Telegram. “They exploit these features, such as the ability to communicate in groups without disclosing their phone numbers. This anonymity grants them a certain level of protection and makes it difficult for law enforcement or individuals to trace their whereabouts or uncover their true identities.”
Furthermore, scammers often go to great lengths to cover their tracks by regularly deleting all their chats and account information.
The cyber wing of Jammu and Kashmir Police has registered a number of cases following complaints from victims of online frauds, having lost millions of rupees to scammers posing as online employers.
“Using group emailing tactics to reach out to a large audience has become an easy task for