Unemployed women falling victim to job scam

MBOMBELA – Four unemployed women thought they had found the perfect jobs when they received response to advertisements they had placed in the newspaper, however, it led them directly into the hands of a con artist.

According to Ms Moirah Maseko, she was overjoyed when she was called for an interview only two days after placing an advertisement.

“A man called and told me that I had been hired at Protea Hotel in Nelspruit and I was so excited,” she said. Maseko added that she became suspicious when the employer told her that she needed to pay R1 000 up front for her application to be processed.

Because she was desperate for a job, she said she would ask her husband for the money. However, she did not send it when the employer told her that she had to send it via Shoprite Money Market and meet him at the post office afterwards
“I then realised that this could be a scam because when I told him that I would give him the money when we met, he started shouting at me and told me that if I didn’t want the job I should leave him alone.”

The three other women were not as fortunate. They paid the money and went to the post office to wait for the employer, who never showed up.

“I guess we were blinded by the desperation of being unemployed and fell for his charm,” said
Ms Mpumi Khoza.

Protea Hotel’s senior accountant, Ms Samantha Bartlet said the hotel would never ask anyone for money for a job application.
“The purported fraudster clearly does not represent Protea Hotels and contacting people who place ads seeking employment is contrary to our recruitment policies.

When vacancies become available within the company, they are advertised through various pre-approved channels, and we would never require a placement fee of any sort from a prospective employee.

Should anyone who placed an advertisement seeking employment be contacted in this manner, we would recommend contacting the authorities,” she stated.