The new scam plagiarises an East Auckland company
New Zealand has closed its borders, suspended all temporary visas and has held back thousands of migrant workers who would normally have the right of entry, but none of these has stopped a fraudster from issuing job offers mainly to Indian nationals in India.
Sowndra Rajan Palanisamy, President of Tamil Association of New Zealand Inc (TANZI), an organisation that helps Indians in distressed, sent us a fake job offers received by a few Indians living in India over the past few days.
Misuse of credible company
The offers were from a company called, ‘Gas Station Limited,’ with its registered address in Half Moon Bay in East Auckland. Our investigation showed that while the physical address, company number and other details matched those found in the Companies Office website, the telephone number and website address were fake. We could not alert the Company’s ‘real owners’ because contact details were not available.
We understand from technical sources that the website is ‘spam’ and ‘suspicious’ and carries all the associated risks. Our own security system warned us ‘to get off the website since it could contain malware.’
Sowndra said that his investigation also showed a similar result.
“I was certain that no company will try to recruit staff from overseas unless they have specific approval from Immigration New Zealand or other relevant authorities, migrant workers will not be allowed to travel. I have informed the people who contacted me, advising them not to believe such fake job offers,” he said.
It is not known if the fake job offer required the potential employees were required to ‘pay the employer,’ which is usually the norm with such fraudsters.
Anomalies on offer
One fake job offer, addressed to a person named Murugan P, says that he has been appointed to the post of Junior Engineer-Civil at Gas Station Limited.
“You will be reporting directly to Manager-Civil in Auckland. The compensation salary for this position is $3200 on a monthly basis,” the job offer said.
In addition, it said that the potential employee will be provided with Bachelor’s accommodation, but on request, will be given furnished family accommodation; that he will be eligible for 28 days ‘Privilege Leave’ and ten days Medical Leave every year and a return ticket from the place of origin to New Zealand.
Another letter, addressed to Gopalakrishnan M offered a full time role as Male Nurse, reporting to Manager-Hospital Administration at Gas Station Limited.
On a similar salary of $3200 and accommodation benefits, the job offer assigned the following duties: “Provide high quality patient care; assist with the continuous development of staff; identify hazards in the workplace and provide solutions; treat emergency inquiries; develop programmes to maintain health and safety; identify work-related risks and document all injuries and illnesses.
Non-Compliance Issues
There are several pointers to these fake job offers. Among them are (1) The salary offered is not on annualised basis, which is the norm in New Zealand and works out to $38,400 (calculated at minimum wage of $20 per hour), far below the immigration threshold of $55,000 specified for recruiting overseas migrants (2) There is no advice regarding work visa to be obtained by the potential employee and (3) One of the letters has not been signed.
While a number of potential migrants from India have fallen victims to fake job offers allegedly issued by Indian employers or their agents and suffered the consequences with Immigration New Zealand, this is a fraudulent scheme has come to light in the past week.
It is common for some fraudsters to using the names of well-established companies and issue job offers on the letterheads of the establishments to lure job seekers and those keen on migrating to New Zealand. A majority of them become victims but those who suspect the veracity of these offers approach us and learn that they were targets for cheats.
Inappropriate letter
A years ago, Nallathambi, a resident of Madurai received an appointment letter from a well-established industry in South Auckland. He was elated but became suspicious when he received a letter purported to be from ‘the New Zealand Embassy Attorney in India’ at the New Zealand High Commission in New Delhi. The letter asked him to ‘register his application’ for visa and other purposes on payment of Rs 13950 (then about $270) and that such registration would be recognised by the New Zealand Council Officials for issue of travel documents.
“So I urge you to proceed and make the payment for the Registration and inform me. As soon as we confirmed the payment of your registration, your files will be opened immediately and I will proceed with those required documents. As soon as the entire required document is secured, Appointment will be granted to you to visit our office in Mumbai for signatory of all relevant documents that will be secured by me on your behalf,” the letter said.
We found a number of blunders in the letter. The name and address of the company offering the job was correct but the telephone number was wrong; it mentioned the salary in US dollars (not the norm here) and several phrases that are not used in an employment letter. We advised Nallathambi that there is neither a New Zealand Attorney at the New Zealand High Commission (not Embassy) nor a New Zealand Council official in Delhi. We also noticed, somewhat to our amusement that the letter sent to him was signed by a Mrs Thing.
Expert advice
An employment lawyer said that such cases of fraud will increase following a rise in demand for jobs in countries like New Zealand, Australia, UK, US and Canada.
“In these days of Internet, it is easy to check the name of the company that supposedly makes job offers, contact the person concerned and check if the contents of the employment letter are true. The New Zealand High Commission will be able to help as well,” he said.
Editor’s Note: If you or someone known to you has been a victim or potential victim of such fraud, please email venkat@indiannewslink.co.nz
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