KATHMANDU: Fraudsters have been found to be luring and deceiving a substantial number of unemployed youths under the pretext of recruitment and handsome salary.
These fraudsters would make the use of advertisement on newspapers or social media network for recruitment promising handsome salary, quick cash, and other perks and allowances.
In Nepal, fake job schemes have become a booming sector, thanks to unemployment opportunities for those high school and college pass outs.
Some fictitious companies have been found to be creating websites and job portals to lure young job-seekers
Several such ‘job consultants’ have been doing business promising jobs at reputed companies by charging heavy fees from the youths.
Areas such as Sundhara, Chabahil, Bagbazar, Koteswor, Kalanki, New Bus Park, and Chakrapath have been flooded with posters on the walls and electric poles, as well as their ‘agents’ handing over pamphlets to pedestrians assuring descent jobs and hefty salary ranging from Rs 20 thousand to 40 thousand per month.
Inam Yadav of Sunsari is one among the unemployed victims duped by a ‘recruitment’ company. When Yadav, who is pursuing MBS at Shanker Dev Campus in Kathmandu, called the job center, an employee at the company asked him to visit the company at New Baneswor and talk in detail.
“Upon reaching the job center, a lady asked me to fill up a form,” he said. And to his utter surprise, he was asked to pay Rs. 300 for the form. “Later when she called me after a couple of days, the nature of the job and the salary were totally different than what was promised and mentioned in the pamphlet,” complained Yadav.
Jivan Kumar Baniya, a BA 3rd-year student at RR College, Kathmandu, reached a job center along with some of his friends at Maitighar with high hopes of getting a job on the basis of the promises in the pamphlet. Upon reaching there, they were asked to fill up forms by paying Rs 500 per each form.
Baniya and his friends, too, were taken aback when they received a call from the job center a few days later saying that they would be given different work than promised or advertised.
Suhana Pulami of Lalitpur too shared a bitter experience saying that she has been duped by such so-called job centers assuring good salary packages and incentives.
Several of these recruiting centers ask the youths to pay money in the name of ‘administration processing fees’ or deposits to secure the job offers.
These fraudsters ask the job-seekers to provide personal data in the job application forms.
Authorities say more than 500 such job centers are operating fraud recruiting businesses in Kathmandu. Around 200 job seekers are found to be frequenting these centers on a daily basis.
However, Director General at the Department of Labor and Occupational Safety, Lal Mani Ojha expressed ignorance on such cases saying that the department has not received any complaints fraudulence so far. Ojha, however, said his department would not hesitate to take immediate action against such fraud companies if they received complaints of deception. Ojha said such cases of fraudulence have to be reported to the police immediately.