Press Release No 8 –
Beware of Employment Scam
Press Release No : 08/2012
Date : 27 February 2012
The Fiji Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) wishes to advise members of the public that another employment scam has been brought to our attention involving a job advertisement that was recently placed in the local newspaper.
The advertisement seeks part time employment purportedly for a company, Photovoltaic Solar Cells. The “job” would require you to work for 2-3 hours from home as sales clerks, payroll clerks, accountants and payment clerks.
The Director of the FIU, Mr. Razim Buksh said that members of the public should not respond to the employment advertisement as it is a scam.
The FIU has established that the “job” applicants would be promised a quick commission in return for receiving money and transferring it elsewhere.
Mr Buksh said that the job would also require you to print forged or bogus cheques, cash them using your personal bank account, keep a small percent of the funds as your commission or salary payment and transfer the balance of the funds abroad to criminal gangs disguised as the “employer”.
Members of the public are warned not to respond to such employment advertisements. Money that is “transferred” or “deposited” into your bank account as income from sales, commission, or wages is “stolen” money. Remember that you may be assisting the perpetrators and organised criminal gangs to facilitate their fraudulent transactions and you may be also charged for money laundering crimes. Mr. Buksh said that customers should not withdraw, use, further transfer or send the funds to anyone if they receive any unauthorised transactions in their bank accounts. They should immediately report this to their banks or the FIU.
Mr. Razim Buksh said that in one case a person who responded to the advertisement was offered a position as a “payment clerk”. He was required to:
(1) receive payment from clients,
(2) within 24 hours clear the funds using his personal bank account in Fiji,
(3) withdraw the funds,
(4) deduct 10 percent which would have been his salary, and
(5) forward the balance to another of their agents.
Another person was offered a position of “certified payroll specialist” to work from home from a computer with an internet connection. She was required to handle the printing of letters, invoices and cheques for a bogus company’s payroll list of a network of fictitious companies and despatch them to the various destinations overseas. She was to be paid US$1,500 – US$3,000 per month.
The FIU has noted the following email addresses have been used in this employment scam:
pdvcresume@hotmail.com
pdvcresume@yahoo.com
advertpdvcresume@hotmail.com
dennis2moore@yahoo.com
mheckman1@blumail.org
Members of the public are advised to contact the FIU or the Ministry of Labour for any further clarification or assistance.
Mr. Buksh said that the FIU will continue to monitor all financial transactions to ensure that Fiji’s financial system is safe and remains protected from such activities.
