How Close Friends, Family Can Be Used To Con Millions Of Job Applicants

Kenyans on social media and offline have raised an alarm regarding a new type of job scam that has seen fraudsters go the extra mile and deceive job seekers through people they trust, ranging from close friends to family members.

An alert raised by a netizen in a WhatsApp group and seen by Viral Tea cautioned other netizens to beware of an individual identified by the email address of a government-owned entity which has been on a conning spree and targeting jobseekers to the point of extending to fields such as communications and Public Relations (PR).

Seemingly knowing that their acts may be easily detected, Viral Tea has learnt that the fraudsters employ a new tactic and use referrals, mostly people close to them, in a bid to get them to lay their guard down.

Their main strategy is to eliminate doubt by getting people one trusts to refer them, and then entice them with hefty salary promises. 

In one such instance, a jobseeker who spoke to Viral Tea revealed that the fraudster nearly defrauded him of Ksh10,000 in January after he received a call from someone claiming that he had been selected for a job interview.

However, to get the job itself, the individual required some documents from the jobseeker which would have cost him around Ksh9,500 to obtain, a matter the jobseeker found suspicious.

"I called the boss from the organization where I had done an interview that morning and I was waiting for feedback that afternoon. He actually told me what I submitted to them is what they wanted and they charged nothing for the same," he told Viral Tea.

He noted that he eventually got the job and was meant to report the following day, but not before he called the fraudster to tell him off.

Another jobseeker revealed that the fraudster had an accomplice who was part of a brazen cartel that also allegedly wielded records of Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) PINs from Kenyans and went above and beyond to trick job seekers into believing that they were official, including the nature of phone conversations.

Another shared a copy of a job offer letter dated February 8, 2024, from the government parastatal which had recommended her to work as a communications officer with a reporting date set for Tuesday, February 20 at 10.30 am for pilot test, contract evaluation and signing.

"Please ensure that you carry your Original I.D. Card, Certificate of Good Conduct, Tax Compliance Certificate, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Certificate, HELB Clearance Form and hardcopies of your original certificates. Please note, as per legal requirement, the management will deduct from you all the statutory deductions e.g PAYE, NHIF, NSSF etc," the letter seen by Viral Tea read in part.

The job seeker further indicated that she was sent the form and instructed to part with some money.

We further learnt that this was a new tactic that arose from the difficulty in getting jobs, with some professionals turning to unscrupulous ways to earn a living. Several job seekers have fallen victim to similar cons and lost thousands of shillings.

Human Resource (HR) experts advise that when job hunting, job seekers need to watch out for deals that look too good to be true because no recruitment process is simple.