Chandrakumar(name changed), who was working in a reputed manufacturing company in Dubai, gets an email from a leading company in UK informing him that they have short listed his resume for a middle level managerial post and asking to confirm his acceptance of the offer.  This is followed by a mail with an offer letter and job contract which he is asked to sign and return.   Chandrakumar on getting this mail resigns his job and returns to India to do the documentation for his visa as advised by the U.K Company.  After a few days, he gets a mail from the UK Company asking him to remit $ 1500 as processing fees for the visa. Chandrakumar became suspicious on getting this mail and forwarded the mail to his friend, working as a system administrator, who confirmed that it was a scam and that the email id was not of the U.K Company but was one created on a free mail server providing such genuine looking email addresses.  This is just one of the many cases of job seekers getting duped by the latest genre of Nigerian advance fee scams.

The modus operandi of these scamsters are fairly simple.  Get a database of job seekers from any job site and then send them a genuine looking mail asking them to apply for a job in a major multinational company.  The victim considering the mail to be genuine applies for the job and he gets a response that he has been selected for the job and that he has to sign and return the attached offer letter and job contract.   The innocent victim, blinded by the huge salary on offer, signs the offer letter and job contract.  The scamster by now has the victim hooked and he sends a mail requesting the victim to remit a fee for processing his documents.  The fee being a fraction of the offered monthly salary, the victim readily agrees and remits the amount.  Having netted his prey, the scamster vanishes.   

The issue with these scams is that there is hardly anything that the local police can do as the scamsters operate across national boundaries and often from African countries.  The best method to save netizens from such scams is to educate them.  CyberJuris is starting an initiative to publish such scam letters in our website so that netizens can be made aware of the dangers…  

A sample job scam letter is given here:

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Shell International Petroleum Co. UK
Shell Centre,
York Road London
SE1 7NA

ATTENTION

YOUR OFFER AND CONTRACT LETTER

Top of the day

Congratulations, we have received your application and CV which
has passed through screening and was confirm satisfactory,
you have been confirm capable of working with our COMPANY,
we hereby present to you the soft copy of your appointment and agreement letter which proofs that you have been employed to work with

THE SHELL PETROLEUM COMPANY UK.

Your qualifications were found suitable for this given position,
we hereby send you the soft copy of the appointment letter and
agreement, the head copy have been forwarded to The Westmorland
Travel International Agency for the approval.

So you are advised to contact The Westmorland Travel Agency for
the processing of your visa and work permit.

Note that you are to bear the responsibility of your traveling
documents while you send us list of expenses for reimbursement,
The organization shall also make first month salary payment
upfront to your account in your country before your arrival.

The bank shall also provide your traveling ticket upon
confirmation of receipt of your traveling papers.

You are directed to contact the below Traveling Officer who has
been appointed to take care of the preparation of the traveling
papers of all MHL employees.
Kindly contact the Travel officer with below contact:

WESTMORLAND TRAVEL AGENCY UK
Direct Communications Unit
39 Crescent Road, Windermere, Cumbria LA23 1BL, UK
E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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TEL: +44-702-407-6972
Contact Person: Mr. LIONEL BROWN
Designation: HEAD OF VISA/PERMITS OPERATIONS.

Update us with the process between you and the Travel Office in
case of advice where necessary.

Also remember that any Expenses  you make on the process of
procuring your Work and Resident Permit will be reimbursed to
you immediately you submit your expenses report, And the
reimbursement will come along with your Upfront first month
Salary.

PLEASE SIGN AND RETURN THE CONTRACT AGREEMENT VIA E-MAIL
ATTACHMENT.
PLEASE CONTACT US BY PHONE FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

Congratulations!!!

BEST REGARDS

Mr. Alex MacDonald
Head of Employee Relations
Shell International petroleum Co. UK
+44 7045 769 274
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info@shellpetroleum
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