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The incidents of recruitment frauds have seen a rise in the last few quarters, point human resource personnel. This time, the most affected industry has been the automobile sector. Auto companies including Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Bajaj Auto have noted a rise in these incidents and have taken various steps to combat these anti-social elements.
HR experts said that job frauds have been in existence across industries that organisations have even found candidates reporting for duty with a fake appointment letter. Tata Motors has had over reported 200 cases in the last 2 years. The company spokesperson said a decade ago, these used to be isolated events where a handful of unsuspecting individuals were defrauded by miscreants. But, today the scale at which fraudsters operate is a serious concern.
The modus operandi of these individuals is very distinct. Job-seekers are sent an email or an SMS wherein the name of a prominent auto company is used. These fraudsters ask them to send them payment by cash or cheque to an account. Fraudsters register domain id’s which sound similar to the ones used by organizations of repute, emailing thousands of unsuspecting job seekers, who could be fresh out of college or from tier 2 or tier 3 cities, or rural areas, inviting applications with security deposits.
Tata Motors spokesperson explained that in one such case, a malefactor claiming to be an agent of the organisation met an innocent job seeker and demanded money towards permanent appointment. "The agent was never seen again by the job seeker. As the incidence of frauds get more organised and established, fraudsters have progressed to using the names of company officials, making the entire experience of a job search so real and genuine. They have communication formats too, to make them appear real with the use of registered trademarks," said the spokesperson.
Experts pointed that the Mumbai Cyber Crime has been tasked with an ever increasing number of such complaints. Apart from creating general public awareness through newspaper insertions, companies like Tata Motors, M&M and Bajaj Auto have also put prominent disclaimers on their websites. Even job sites like naukri.com and monster.com have alerted registered users to be aware of such frauds.
Since these fraudsters operate in a clandestine manner, it is very difficult to nab them. Amrut Rath, vice president-human resources, Bajaj Auto said that while the company has complained to the police to deal with these cases, the people involved closed the account and fled before the police could apprehend them. He added that since awareness about these incidents have been created, people are becoming aware.
A disclaimer on Bajaj Auto site reads, "It has been brought to our notice that certain individuals are receiving fraudulent emails, seemingly from Bajaj Auto, about job opportunities with our Company. They are also asking candidates to deposit money in banks as part of the process. These emails are not sent by Bajaj Auto or any representative of Bajaj Auto. We have not authorized any agency to send such emails on our behalf. We never ask candidates to pay money as recruitment charges or any other fee for employment with the company."
HR experts pointed that no part of India is immune to these cases of fraud. They explained that while Delhi/NCR and Uttar Pradesh had reported among the highest incidents of job fraud, areas like Andhra Pradesh were also not far behind. "Since auto sector recruits people in bulk, people are usually fooled when big names are floated in the fraudulent recruitment schemes by con-men," said a New Delhi based executive of a human resource consultancy.
Neha Kharde, Senior General Manager-Group Human Resources, M&M said, "A number of cases have been reported, not just in the auto business, but in the other group businesses as well. We have a Mahindra Group website which has dedicated segments for career and employment. Through that channel, we have witnessed records of fraud activity. People received offers by people who posed as a part of the Mahindra Group,"
Kharde added that while they have zero tolerance to these issues, they did not have much luck as only few people have been caught. "These individuals use temporary accounts and disappear after duping people. Apart from alerting prospective candidates, we have a disclaimer on our site asking people not to fall prey to these claims," she said.
Other companies like Ashok Leyland have also put disclaimers on their website warning people about fraud job-offers. "We have received information from various quarters that in the past few days there has been a string of email communication for job interviews with Ashok Leyland, while the Company has NOT made any such offers / announcements," it said.
