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Fake job outlets spreading via social media in Kolkata, cops issue warning
The Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar has issued a warning against such fraud portals and websites that are getting increasingly common in the city, the report added.
The Kolkata Police has in the last month arrested as many as seven people in connection with fraud job portals duping young job-seekers with fake assurances of lucrative work opportunities abroad, a report by Hindustan Times’ Bangla outlet has said. The Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar has issued a warning against such fraud portals and websites that are getting increasingly common in the city, the report added.
According to the police, these scamsters earlier used to lure in potential job-seekers with fake assurances of government jobs in various central and state government-related public services. However, since people have grown more aware of spotting fake government job offers, these counterfeit job rackets have now started using prospective jobs in the private sector, often promising lucrative salaries within the country or abroad, as bait. In March, a number of 'tech-savvy' youngsters fell prey and lost lakhs worth of money to these scams that use social media to propagate these fraud portals.
The Kolkata Police have asked citizens, especially the youth, to be on the lookout for such fake job outlets, which usually ask for money from the applicants after conducting a perfunctory 'interview’, according to the report. According to a Kolkata Police official, the report said, that such money transfer requests, on the pretext of 'security deposit' or 'medical exams', often serve as red flags for spotting these fraud outlets, since very rarely do any actual job portals ask for so. The police have urged applicants to not send money willingly to these outlets, even if their websites seem very real, as they may even send counterfeit offer letters to drive in the scam.
