THE Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) yesterday warned aspiring overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) anew against unscrupulous individuals and groups engaged in scams via email.
POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia said the public should immediately disregard emails offering supposed seminars for accompanying jobs in countries like United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States of America.
“The scammer promises high salaries, non-payment of placement and processing fees, and other too good to be true remunerations,” said Olalia.
Under the modus used, Olalia said the scammer uses the name of a licensed Philippine recruitment agency without the latter’s knowledge to appear legitimate and entice victims.
Olalia said victims are being asked to pay P3,000 as reservation fee to be sent through a remittance company for the supposed mandatory orientation seminar to be conducted at the office of the licensed recruitment agency.
“Any unsolicited job offer through e-mail and social media, which requires payment of fees for seminar, documentation, and processing of visa and other travel documents, is a sure sign of a scam,” Olalia said.
The agency advised applicants to validate the authenticity of job offers with the government, through the former’s verification system at poea.gov.ph and hotlines 7221144 and 7221155.
Olalia also urged the public to immediately report any suspicious or illegal online recruitment activities to the Anti-Illegal Illegal Recruitment Branch Operations and Surveillance Division at email poea_airb_osd@yahoo.com.
