Dubai: Fraudsters are targeting big Dubai hospitals by offering non-existent jobs on their behalf to unsuspecting job aspirants abroad, hospitals told XPRESS.
Last year, XPRESS highlighted how these con artists dangled baits of ‘Dh37,000 per month plus perks’ in fake jobs from top Abu Dhabi oil companies like Adnoc in front of job seekers.
Now they are back again, handing out genuine-looking job ‘contracts’ worth a monthly Dh35,000 plus emoluments to any professional with any degree and from any background.
XPRESS has copies of at least six contracts for various ‘hospital’ roles — an accountant, a radiation therapist, a senior finance executive, a specialist, an administrative assistant and a medical assistant – each being offered Dh35,000 per month flat salary.
Perks include an additional Dh21,900 ‘flat rate travel/entertainment allowance’ for each ‘intercontinental trip’ in ‘business class/first class’, ‘car maintenance’ allowance of Dh4,900 per month, annual ‘house and furnishings’ allowance of Dh40,000 and ‘entertainment & recreation’ allowance of Dh2,500 per month, besides a monthly ‘travel & events’ bonus of Dh4,000.
The fraudsters’ modus operandi, however, remains the same. “If you apply for a ‘position’ they advertise in their email, you will be ‘accepted’. However, you will soon be asked to pay for visa charges (on the promise that it will be reimbursed later) and the payment has to be made ‘within days’ to a designated travel agency — usually non-existent and operating out of just one mobile number,” explained a job seeker based in Doha who says he almost fell for the trap some time back.
“As soon as you are asked to pay money, chances are there is something wrong,” he warns.
Many, however, fall for the trap, ending up paying for visas that never arrive. In some cases, the loss is beyond just the $1,450 (Dh5,346) bill for the fake visas and work permits.
Lost job for a fake offer
“Unfortunately I lost my job because of a fake job offer,” said a said distraught doctor from Pakistan. “Take serious action against them so after that they are not able to play with the emotions of people like us.
“This is really a pathetic situation for me to become jobless because of them,” he said on condition of anonymity.
The HR manager of International Modern Hospital, Navaid Khan, said he received scores of emails from Canada, UK, Malaysia and Pakistan in recent weeks, all enquiring whether the job his hospital is offering is genuine. “They [con artists] used our logo on letterheads to issue fake offers for jobs we are not currently hiring for,” he clarified.
“We have now registered a police case against the men who issued the letters, the travel agent involved and are considering putting up a legal disclaimer soon that we are not the ones making such outlandish job offers,” he added.
International Modern Hospital is not the only hospital at the centre of this well-oiled scam which always involves job offers that are ‘too good to be true’.
“Almost three months ago I had received a very unusually high paying job offer from a hospital in Fujairah. The salary was almost three times my current salary and they asked me to make an initial payment to a travel agent in Karama to process visa costs. I realised instantly that it was a trap,” said a staff working in a Dubai hospital.
On April 8, American Hospital Dubai put up a legal notice on their website clarifying documents titled ‘Official Letter of Appointment’ with a certain Karama address are ‘fake’ and should be ‘disregarded’. “This is an act of cybercrime punishable by law. We have already lodged [a complaint] with the police to hold the perpetrators accountable for this act,” it further said.
“It’s been a massive problem as we have been receiving calls every other day, enquiring about the genuineness of the ‘offer’,” said a staff of the general medical hospital on Oud Metha Road.
Modus operandi
1. Fraudster sends an email to the candidate, asking him to fill up a questionnaire and choose the post he wishes to apply for from a host of ‘jobs’ on offer
2. Within weeks, F sends another email, informing C that he has been ‘accepted’ for the role he had applied for
3. C is now sent a ‘terms of employment’ that promises an outrageous ‘flat’ salary plus perks and he is asked to review and accept it
4. On accepting the offer by email, C is now sent a UAE ‘visa application form’ and contact details of a ‘travel agent’ designated to arrange visas
5. C is now required to pay $1,450 per person and $2,650 per family towards ‘immigration’ charges
6. C makes the payment in the hope of securing his ‘dream job’. However, most certainly will never hear from F ever again.
