Companies operating in the Sultanate have been warned of a new brand of cheats who issue appointment letters abroad using forged letterheads, seals, and other relevant documents.
One such case came to light recently when the top officials of an Omani company started receiving calls from ‘candidates’ who started asking for the modalities of their arrival in Oman to join the ‘new jobs’.
To the management’s utter surprise, the candidates were sent offer letters on the company’s letterhead with office seal and signature. All these documents were found to be forged as the company in question did not have any plan to do hiring for any of those positions.
The fraudsters advertised for the positions did interview, and issued offer letters by using forged official stationary of the Oman Construction and Engineering Company.
The company’s Managing Director, Rakesh Jha, came to know about the fraud when he received the first call from a ‘shortlisted candidate’ who was keen to know about the job modalities, office location, and other job-related things.
“And from then calls from many other ‘candidates’ came. Not less than 100 calls and mostly from the young job aspirants, who sounded happy about the job, but were very upset when we cleared our stand that we did not advertise any jobs in India and someone did fraud in our company’s name,” said Rakesh Jha.
A total of 774 positions were announced in the advertisement with salaries ranging from RO 190 to 250. The fake job advertisement had all possible details like, “period of employment: 11 months; place of employment: Sultanate of Oman; Working hours: 8 hours, probation period: 1 month; company-owned medical, accommodation, transport, food, and visa for joining. It also had mention of four-hour over-time policy of the company.”
The most surprising element for the Oman Construction and Engineering Company management was the announcement of foreign contact details in the advertisement, which were active.
“At a time when we are fighting the slowdown caused by the Covid-19, this new problem has put us on our toes. We raised the issue at all possible forums and still looking for options so that people involved behind the act are caught and innocent job-seekers are not cheated,” said Rakesh Jha.
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