The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) reiterated its advice to Filipino overseas jobseekers to disregard emails inviting them for orientation seminars for supposed employment opportunities in countries like Canada, and United Kingdom.
Administrator Bernard Olalia said that scammers proliferating in so media are using the names of POEA licensed recruitment agencies to send fake job offers which require job seekers to pay reservation fees.
Through emails, the scammers entice potential victims with too-good-to-be-true benefits, such as high salaries without any deductions, and non-payment of placement and processing fees.
The target victims are then asked to pay Php 3,000 reservation fee to be sent through money transfer facilities for the supposed mandatory orientation seminar to be conducted at the office of the licensed recruitment agency.
The POEA reminds the public that any unsolicited job offers which requires early payment of fees for seminar, documentation or processing of visa and other travel documents is a sure indication of a scam.
Also, any transaction relative to overseas job applications should be conducted within the registered business address of a licensed recruitment agency.
Likewise, the collection of any fee from a worker must always be accompanied by an official receipt, which shows the amount paid and purpose of the payment.
Overseas jobseekers are advised to always confirm offers of employment through the POEA verification system www.poea.gov.ph or through POEA hotlines 8722-11-44 and 8722-11-55.
The public is also urged to be more vigilant and immediately report any suspicious activities pertaining to online recruitment scams to POEA Anti-Illegal Recruitment Branch Operations and Surveillance Division at osd@poea.gov.ph or contact (02) 8722- 1192