Dubai: Four recruitment agencies have been shut down by the Ministry of Labour for fraud and are to be prosecuted, a senior officer from the ministry has revealed.
The official, however, declined to name the companies and where they were operating from.
The Ministry of Labour official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Gulf News on Tuesday that the recruitment agencies had been closed and prosecuted for cheating people who were searching for work.
He warned other recruitment agencies operating in the country against violating the law by asking applicants to pay fees under any name or description.
"This is part of the ministry's campaign against employment scams or what are called ‘job scams' which seem to be a form of fraud in which some people posing as recruiters offer employment opportunities to job seekers who are on visit visas in the country and they ask them to pay money in advance," said Mohammad Bin Dakhin, Director of governmental communication at the ministry.
Cash up front
Bin Dakhin said the scams involve profitable job offers with money demanded to be paid to the recruitment agency. This can include more than Dh200 for opening a file at the agency and up to Dh500 for job appointments.
He said such agencies present themselves with websites but when the victim has paid the advanced fees for employment, the agency will tell their victim that the company who will employee them has declined to hire them.
"The scam employment agencies may also never respond to the job seeker or they tell the job seeker not to contact them again as they know that most of the job seekers are on visit visas and they are not going to complain," he said.
He said that recruitment agencies such as this were prosecuted for fraud.
According to another senior official from the Ministry of Labour, many specialised doctors from Syria and Iraq have fallen victim to such scams.
"Many experienced and specialised Syrian doctors came on visit visas to UAE during the Syrian crisis. Some of them graduated from the best universities in the world and have more than ten years experience, they tried to find work here and they fall victim to such scams recruitment agencies," the official said.
Taking advantage
The official said a number of Iraqi specialist doctors also applied for jobs through such agencies.
The official added that these employment agencies were charging around Dh800 to find them employment and then failed to respond to them.
"Such agencies are making use of the need of such doctors who fled their countries to work," he said.
The official urged all people who have fallen victims to such scams to report them immediately to the Ministry of Labour.
"This is a very serious issue and we want the public to cooperate with us by informing us about such recruitment agencies," he said.
Complaint
Job seekers have been warned against employment agencies that seek money to register CVs. Such agencies can dupe applicants. According to the Ministry of Labour, it is illegal for recruitment agencies to charge candidates a fee for registration.
Report such companies to 800-665
