Dr. S. Doiphode (35) from Kalyan (in Maharashtra, India) received a job offer in the UK via email late last year. He was asked to deposit Rs 1.95 lakh in a particular bank account for processing the visa and air tickets. Doiphode made the payment but when he got another email demanding Rs 2 lakh more, he lodged a complaint. Another Deepika Sharma from Kalyan, received an e-mail job offer for a foreign airline’s cabin crew. As demanded in the mail, she paid Rs 5.28 lakh in a Bank of Baroda account. When she failed to receive the appointment letter, visa and air tickets, she cross-checked with her relatives in the UK who informed her that she was duped.These are just two gullible job seekers who fell prey to the online job fraud, allegedly orchestrated by Nigerians. In the past too, several people have been duped through such e-mails that offered the recipients a part of the huge bank balances left behind by their so-called relatives. In return, they were asked to pay in lakhs for the required clearances from various government authorities. The cyber cell of the Thane police recently busted two groups that indulged in such rackets. The police have been receiving about 14-16 such complaints in a month. According to the police, the scamsters — posing as fake companies — registered themselves with job portals seeking prospective candidates. “Once they got details of the candidates, they selected the victims,’’ a police officer said.
The police said that the scamsters even got fake websites of the UK High Commission created and registered with the Internet Service Provider by paying Rs 1,200 for six months. The officer said, “The scamsters used a software that enables them to hide the IP address through which the mails are sent. Even the service providers failed to track these IP addresses.’’ The main offices of most ISPs are located abroad, which makes our job difficult, said one police official. The scamsters tied up with locals to open bank accounts. In Doiphode’s case, the accused Tibakno Zeelesle got his landlady Elizabeth Jessino to open a bank account in Bank of Maharashtra. The police recently arrested Tibakno and Jessino. “She was offered a 5% commission of the total money collected by the scamsters,’’ the police said. They seized a laptop containing profiles of candidates and their email IDs. In Sharma’s case, the Kalyan Police arrested five persons, including a Nigerian, William Adams (37), from Cuffe Parade in January who had taken the help of 5 slumdwellers whom he befriended to open the bank accounts.
WARNING: DO NOT TRUST emails which claim to offer you lucrative job offers in the US, the UK, Middle East, or anywhere in the world and in turn demand you to deposit some money for processing. Note that NO COMPANY in the world will demand money from you to offer you a job, or to even process your application. If you come across any such instances, please INFORM THE POLICE immediately. DO NOT FALL PRAY to this Nigerian trick. (Excerpts from report published in The Times of India.)