Dubai: A Spanish doctor has become the latest victim of a well-knit recruitment scam targeting health professionals and other job-seekers based abroad.
Dr Z.E., who works at a hospital in Spain, said he paid Dh9,860 towards visa processing fee and other charges for a Dh38,500 per month job at Al Kaka Hospital in Abu Dhabi.
Intriguingly, the Al Kaka Hospital which lists integrity and honesty among its core values, doesn’t exist anywhere in the world other than the internet.
It’s website is a merely a cut-copy paste job created to dupe unsuspecting job seekers like Dr Z.E.
Of late, the bogus hospital, with a purported Abu Dhabi address, has shot of scores of fake appointment letters to job aspirants worldwide, offering them huge salaries and perks including monthly entertainment and recreation allowances.
Among the recipients are Nigerians Nskikan Hilda Udo and Olachi Lilian Osug.
Despite little work experience, they have been offered Dh15,500 monthly plus Dh1,000 weekly as pocket allowance for an assistant accountant and bio chemist’s position.
Similarly, Dr A. Singh has been promised a radiologist’s position position at a basic salary of Dh37,500, besides Dh12,500 annually towards furnishings and Dh1,200 weekly for pocket money. Other perks include free housing in a three-bedroom apartment and a raft of other monthly benefits including Dh1,200 for car maintenance, Dh2,500 for entertainment and recreation and Dh2,500 for travel.
To clinch these dream jobs, the candidates have to remit Dh9,860 to a purported travel firm’s bank account so that their visa and employment papers could be processed and they could start work.
The offer letters which bear forged stamps of the ministry of interior, assure candidates that all expenses made towards visa and work permit costs will be reimbursed once they land in the UAE.
Dr Z.E. who fell for the bait and wired Dh9,860 to the bogus travel agency said he suspected foul play when he was asked to fork out Dh16,000 additionally towards health insurance. Victims of other scams modelled on similar lines said they never hear from the purported hospital or travel firm once they have remitted the money.
People who have received the bogus offer letter reckon the scamsters picked their email from job hunting websites where they had uploaded their CV.
Investigations show the bogus Al Kaka Hospital website www.alkakahospital.com was barely two months ago and all its content and pictures are stolen from Muscat Private Hospital in Oman.
Following an alert by Gulf News, Muscat Private Hospital has put up a notice on its website about the misuse of its logo and website and also urged people to be cautious about fraudulent job offers.
Rampant racket
Fraudulent job offers are rampant in the UAE with conmen using the names of entities both real and fictitious to lure jobseekers.
Etihad, Emirates, Adnoc, ADEC, Icare Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Awazen Hospital, Thumbay and New York University Abu Dhabi are among several UAE-based establishments in whose names fake offer letters have been sent worldwide.
According to UAE labour laws, it is illegal for recruitment agents and companies to charge job candidates and employees any fees for any part of the recruitment process or residence visa and work permit application.
