New recruitment scam in the Net exposed

By JEFFERSON ANTIPORDA, The Manila Times Reporter

Syndicates are using the cyberspace for illegal recruitment allowing them to victimize more jobseekers without being caught by the law.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the National Bureau of Investigation have received reports about the new mode of recruiting workers for ghost jobs by illegal recruiters.

"We have reports about such activity [Internet recruitment] and we are waiting for complainants to come to us so that we can take the appropriate action against these recruiters," said the NBI’s special action chief, Director Vicente de Guzman III, at a recent roundtable at The Manila Times.

Syndicates conduct their recruitment online, through advertisements or messages posted in various websites, online forums and chat rooms.

Payments are also coursed through the Internet or the wires, eliminating the face-to-face meeting between the victim and the syndicate.

"As we see it, the operators in this kind of transaction are more difficult to arrest because the billing is made though wires. But of course there would come a time when the applicant and the operator will meet in person and that is where the NBI and the POEA will come into the picture," de Guzman said.

He said that the NBI does not have the names of individuals or groups involved in the Internet business because no complainants have appeared so far.

De Guzman said the NBI is looking for ways to track the website of the syndicates.

The NBI special action force is also going after illegal recruiters who victimize Filipinos with the promise of nonexistent jobs and recruitment agencies who charge exorbitant fees.

According to POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz, victims of illegal recruitment from January to May this year have increased by 242.2 percent compared to the same period last year.

She said from January to May 2005 the POEA received only 172 complaints compared to 593 complaints they received for the same period this year.