Swiss consulate warns against fake company

The Swiss consulate has warned that a fake company supposedly operating out of Zurich is luring jobseekers and swindling them out of their money.

Wafa Y. Hijawi, commercial attaché at the Consulate General of Switzerland, said the company advertises locally about openings in the hospitality sector in Mauritius and the Caribbean.

"The company, Concord Group, which also has an internet site, has used a dodgy advertisement in the ads section of your paper to lure jobseekers from the UAE," he told Gulf News.

He said a number of people have already applied through the Internet.

"Some have contacted the consulate to check the credibility of the company," he said.

The advertisement, Hijawi said, called on jobseekers to file their CVs on the email at the following address: concordway@mail.com.

Gulf News tried to contact the company on their telephone line for comment, but the line was disconnected. Nor have they responded to an e-mail inquiry, as per their address in the advertisement.

The company recently advertised openings for professionals in accounting, finance, IT, human resources, and management. The advertisement was run on August 8, 11 and 13.

It also called on senior food, beverage and cruise line professionals to apply for "highly-paid" jobs in projects owned or managed by the company in different parts of the world.

"The aim of the ad was to lure the maximum number of professionals who could later pay the so-called employment fees which would be asked from the applicants," Hijawi explained
In its introductory letter on the group's website, Concord Group claimed it is a hospitality sector leader with operations in Mauritius and the Caribbean.

It says that it is managing various resorts, hotels, game reserves and four cruise lines operating from Mauritius.

"No such company exists in Zürich and the address and the phone number are fake," the commercial attaché said.

Investigations through the competent authority uncovered that there was no such company anywhere in Switzerland, he said.

Hijawi warned applicants not to deal with the company, which had asked some of the applicants to transfer $800 to process their applications and their work permits. He said it was a wise decision of some of the applicants to first check with the consulate.

The attaché said one of the jobseekers who contacted him became suspicious when his application for an IT position was accepted without any interview or query about his qualifications.

He was offered a Dh40,000 monthly salary and other benefits. "The only condition for processing the application and confirming the appointment was the request to transfer $800 to an account in South Africa," he said.

Hijawi called on businessmen and establishments to contact the Swiss mission to get information about companies before they start any dealings with them. He said the Concord Group incident shows that there are some who are willing to use the good reputation of Switzerland to cheat people.

"We don't like to see people falling in such traps and we are always ready to help them in any way to avoid any untoward situations," he said.

J. D. L. from Dubai said that he had contacted the company after he saw the advertisement in the paper.

"My application was accepted on the condition that I have first to secure one certification course, IMLSC, for the fee of $785. The course is accordingly in South Africa and payment shall be made through money transfer only," he said.

The Switzerland consulate in Dubai told him that the company does not exist in Zurich and advised him to ignore the offer.

Rajesh S. said he received a confirmation two days after he applied for an IT position.

"They told me that I had been recruited. The only condition was that since I will occasionally be required to visit offshore centres, or sea going cruise liners, I will have to take up a certification in South Africa that will take from 16 to 20 hours of studying time. They said the course will cost $785 covering overnight insured courier, study materials and instructions on CD-ROM.

"After a bit of research about IMLSC on the Internet, I found that this is all a big scam and there is no such certification," he said.