Hyderabad: A majority of victims of fake manpower consultancies are from Karimnagar, Adilabad, Warangal Mahbubnagar and Nizamabad districts, who are lured by local agents with pamphlets that make extravagant promises. Villagers are more prone to financial exploitation. They are also more easily intimidated and don’t approach the police. Agents who do not pay back the money often keep the victim’s passport and threaten not to return it if he demands his money back.
“More than 60 per cent of the victims are from districts other than Hyderabad. They are under-educated and seek jobs mainly in West Asia,” said Mr B. Limba Reddy, DCP of the Commissioner’s Task Force. “The fake agents advertise themselves in pamphlets distributed in village mosques and other gathering places to target semi-skilled and unskilled workers. They offer jobs of house drivers, construction workers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, etc,” he added. Local agents work for a commission to create word-of-mouth publicity for these consultancies. Websites and online consumer complaint forums list the names of some of the fake agencies in Hyderabad, but such a source is not accessible to most villagers.
