Hyderabad: KPHB resident N. Maneesh Kumar, 25, was unemployed after completing BTech from a private city college. He had registered himself in prominent job websites online hoping to get an interview call. Two months ago, he got an email from the ‘HR manager’ of an MNC asking him to send his updated CV. His correspondence with the HR manager became successful, and the company representative conducted a telephone interview with him.
Later, he was told that he had been selected and will get a joining letter soon, but he should pay Rs 19,000 as job processing charges or for ‘a backdoor entry’. The salary offered was handsome and Maneesh deposited the amount in the bank account mentioned by the ‘HR manager’. He soon got an offer letter and he walked into the company with it. However, he realised that he had been duped when company officials told him they had never contacted him.
Cyber criminals who target job hunters now collect contact details of freshers from job websites and offer them jobs. They sent emails to the victims from IDs that is identical to an MNC using email spoofing. They cheat them by levying all kinds of charges and finally send them a fake appointment letter.
The victims realise that they have been cheated when they walk into the company office with the letter. Though several such cases have been reported in the media it continues to happen.
Cyber crime investigators say that even educated people will fall prey to the conmen seeing the email address and the phone number used by the fraudsters.
“In many registered cases, the victims got calls from the ‘original phone numbers’ of MNCs and emails with official IDs. The victims usually check the numbers and IDs online and get convinced. However, what they do not know is that using spoofing websites the conmen can change the sender’s ID and the phone number appearing on the receiver's screen,” said an official from the cyber crime police.
Police said that job seekers should take extra precautions when they get a job offer through the phone or email. “They should carefully browse the Internet and enquire about details of the particular offer. In fact, a genuine employer never asks to deposit money before personal interviews,” said a police official. It’s always better to personally check with the human resource departments of the companies about job offers and offer letters before giving money to anybody for the job.
