Dubai - A bogus recruitment agency has fooled a number of applicants into applying for jobs in three UAE ministries.
A salary of more than Dh16,000 ($4,400) plus accommodation was on offer. According to the job postings, applicants were asked to send their application to the e-mail address nfo@uaeministryoflabour.tk, making it seem that it was an authentic website, officials said.
The Ministry of Education immediately sent a warning yesterday. Dr Hanif Hassan, Minister of Education, warned job seekers to verify the authenticity of their appointment letters after the bogus website link was uncovered.
Bad feelingNancy Floyd, a 52-year old-teacher, currently living in the US, looking to relocate to Dubai received documents which appeared to come from the UAE's Ministry of Interior, arranging her work permit visa.
Floyd was almost fooled into paying $400 (Dh1,468) for a work visa.
"After sending the application they asked me to send my cheque to this address and only to speak to a particular woman. I got a bad feeling about it so I told them that I already had a visa. Once they got to know that, they stopped pushing it," she said.
She added that she had turned down a job in the US as she thought that it was a genuine job offer.
Letter heads of Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) and signatures of senior officials, which Gulf News has obtained a copy of, were forged by the bogus recruitment agency.
David Oliver, an English language teacher, at the University of Sharjah, who closely monitors online scams targeting teachers, said that the fraudsters are from Nigeria and they usually go under the name of Global Recruiters but that this time they were posing as the UAE's ministry of labour in an another attempt to steal identities, and try to get personal information such as passport numbers and con people out of cash for "work visas."
"The domain which the fraudsters are using is registered in Lagos, Nigeria," he said.
Brigadier Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director-General of Dubai Naturalisation, told Gulf News that investigations are underway to find the fraudsters.
"We are aware of the problem and investigations are underway to track down the fraudsters and we hope will reach a solution for the problem soon," said Al Merri.
Ahmad Kajour, Executive Director for Customer Affairs at the Ministry of Labour, told Gulf News, that this agency only has a hyperlink to the ministry's website and did not hack into the ministry's website.
"There is nothing we can do as they did not hack into our website but only had a hyperlink and they are not registered in the UAE, but I advise people to be extra cautious when they are applying for a job online," he said.
The job advertisement posted on the recruitment website says that "It is very easy to get a teaching position through United Arab Emirates Ministry of Labour .... We will do the work to make your job search as easy and convenient as possible."
The person, or persons, is processing job applications and giving people fake appointment letters, it added.
Dr. Hassan urged all applicants at the ministry to verify the authenticity of the Ministry's documents and deal with the Ministry only through legal channels. Officials said the issue has been sent to legal experts for action.
- With inputs from WAM
By Wafa Issa
© Gulf News 2008
