The Net’s cloak of anonymity hides conmen, who are out to make a quick buck at the expense of gullible job seekers.
Here’s how to spot them.
Six months ago, Guwahati-based Santosh Singh applied for an online data entry job. The company asked him to make an initial deposit of 2,000 to register with it and for the training manual. Singh transferred the money to a bank account number given by the company, after which he received an identity number and a link through an e-mail by the company. However, Singh was in for a shock when the link refused to open and no work came his way. “I tried to contact the company repeatedly, but no one responded. Once I managed to get through and when I asked the person for a refund, he asked me to contact he bank and kept the phone down. Of course, the bank couldn’t do anything,” says the 24-year-old Singh, who is now employed with a private school as a teacher. The fraudulent amount doesn’t seem big for such cases, but when you multiply it with the number of people conned, it’s translates into a massive scam.
Most online jobs that seem too good or easy are often disguised con jobs. “There is no free lunch in the professional world. So don't expect to get an easy job, wherein you can make money without working hard or adding value,” says K Ganesh, founder, TutorVista.com. How can you identify whether the online job offer is genuine? Here are a few things you need to keep in mind.
DUE DILIGENCE
Before you accept an offer, it's important to exercise due diligence regarding the company. Check reviews about it on various blogs, social Websites and complaint forums. If there are negative inputs, ignore the offer. “A background check about the company is important to ensure that the offer is legitimate. If the compensation seems too high, it can be a potential scam,” says Pavan Duggal, a Delhi-based lawyer. If you are keen about the job, but aren’t sure about its genuineness, start small. Take up limited work initially, and if you are paid regularly and on time for a year, you could consider scaling up with it. ADVANCE PAYMENT This is the most popular trick used by scamsters. You will be given a few cheques in the first few months of starting work. After this, the company will ask you to deposit a substantial amount of money with it on some pretext, the most common being that it had accidentally sent you a high-value cheque and could you return the amount. When you deposit the cheque, it bounces, but by this time, you have already made the payment to the company. “There is no reason for a company to ask you to pay it. If it asks you for money, abandon ship,” says Pervin Malhotra, a Delhi-based career counsellor.
EVALUATION
If the offer is genuine, the company will ask you for a sample of your work before hiring you. There should be a criteria for selection that should match the job description. If not, there is something fishy. “We have a rigorous evaluation, including a written test and an online interview that covers subject knowledge and teaching skills, before we select a candidate. An online company will have the same hiring process as a brick-and-mortar institution. If such evaluation and processes are missing, it definitely indicates a scam,” says Ganesh. It is a good sign if an online interaction is followed up with personal contact during the selection procedure.
CONTACT INFORMATION
A good way to judge the genuineness of an online job offer is to check the office address and contact numbers provided on the company Website. If there is no such information available, send an e-mail to the company. In case there is a phone number, call and speak to someone. The best thing to do would be to check the physical location of the company.
REFERENCES
Don’t take the offer at face value. Ask about the clients and other employees who are doing similar work. Check with these firms and people about the quality of the company’s work. If you have been given a bogus client list, which includes highprofile companies, it will alarm them too. This is how banks and top-notch companies become aware of their names being misused and periodically send out mails stating that they have no such job offers. If you fall prey to a fraudster despite all these precautions, lodge an FIR against the company. Though these are fly-bynight operators, who keep skipping cities, a database of cyber crime is being built. Under the IT Act 2000 , a company offering fake online offers can be fined or the persons running the scam can be imprisoned for up to three years. However, there isn’t any good news on this front. Till now, there have been only three reported cases of conviction since it is difficult to trace the originators of a fraud. “It’s better to be circumspect and cautious in order to avoid landing in such trouble,” says Duggal.
(PRIYAKAPOORETW31OCT11)
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