Tips for Indians to avoid job scams in foreign countries

India is one of the largest countries in the world that every year creates a large quantity of new graduates and talented workers, and a significant part of them wants to find well paid jobs in foreign countries to become rich and make their future shining. It is against this reason why the Government of India has taken serious steps to protect its citizens against any form of exploitation by overseas labour markets. The recruitment agencies that are involved in international placements are bound to register themselves with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and seek official clearance before sending Indian candidate to other countries.

However, despite these laws and government supervision, there remain dozens of illegal and fraudulent agencies that run their business across India without being noticed and fraudulently prey on unsuspecting job hunters. These organizations normally Invite applicants with a fake offer of well-paid jobs abroad but end up forcing the candidates to pay large sums to them leaving the applicants in the hand of frauds. Because of the fact that a large number of the candidates still have no idea about the governmental policies and safeguards, they are exceptionally susceptible to them.

This Article discusses in detail how dishonest job seekers in India fall into the nets of the unregistered agencies and gives a detailed piece on how to get safe and quality overseas jobs through registered recruitment agencies in the country. This source provides the Indian job seekers in foreign countries with the necessary information on the ways to check the authenticity of the foreign job offer to India and prevent possible frauds.

What is Cyber Slavery Job Fraud? How Indian Job Seekers Are Trapped

In recent years, a worrying trend has emerged: there is a high number of criminal complaints against unregistered and fraudulent recruitment agencies in India that attract job seekers with false proposals of employment abroad with questionable and expensive commissions. People of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Haryana and Delhi among other nations are shipped off to Southeast Asian countries like "Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos" and where the latter partake of a modern day slavery the so called "Cyber Slavery Job Fraud". News reports suggest that over 1,000 people of Tamil Nadu alone, and thousands all over India are believed to have been in the net of these human trafficking scam. Source: Read More Here.

Many of these people, including highly educated individuals, enter into these foreign job schemes with hopes of getting out of poverty and giving their families a good future. Promises of high salaries and benefits, good lifestyle and attractive living in another country are offered to them by unregistered agencies with them often being given a false online interview to gain confidence. Sadly, majority of the applicants are not able to understand the major difference between tourist visa and the employment visa. As a result, such fake agencies purchase inappropriate visas and the applicants become travelers as they go to the countries of destination. Once they get there, their passports are taken away and they are pressured to be involved in various online crimes, such as digital arrest scams, investment frauds, dating scams, and others, with no incentives in any way.

These victims become susceptible to what is being termed as cyber slavery whereby they are forced into working under inhuman conditions mostly under threats of violence or deportation. The Tamil Nadu cyber crime police and other agencies have given the warning to the people about this and it is said that the victims are trapped in the scam compounds and are forced to commit criminal activities to earn their livelihood.India has so far successfully rescued 26 people out of Cambodia; thousands more are still behind bars, 29, 466 Indians are also untraceable after traveling to these nations on tourist visas in the past 1.5 years, which shows that many Indian citizens face huge tourist visa-employment traps. This trend comes as a major warning to other indians planning to work abroad using a tourist visa.

Job seekers have to confirm the status of recruitment agencies through the eMigrate portal for official details after which the individual recruits only registered agencies by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). It is necessary to check the list of unregulated agencies in the same portal, as well as confirm that the job is offered officially by direct contact with the body that offers it, either the Indian Embassy or the Protector of Emigrants office. Familiarity with the visa regulations and background research of the employers can help avoid being struck by such traps. Indian employment seekers can go out with all their ambition of working in a foreign country with safety and security by being cautious and prioritizing the agencies approved by the government to work abroad.

How Unregistered and Fake Recruitment Agencies Operate in India

What is the Indian Government Doing to Combat Fake Overseas Job Agencies?

How to Verify Overseas Company Credibility from India: A Step-by-Step Guide

To protect yourself against overseas job scams out of India, it's a good idea to check on the legitimacy of any overseas company yourself. Here's how to check if an overseas company is genuine out of India, using the following steps:

• What to Check on the Web: Look at the company website (as well as their LinkedIn account and social media) to confirm whether it looks genuine. Search on Google, Glassdoor and LinkedIn for reviews. Look for consistency and overall professional presentation.

• What are the Red Flags ? Look out for poor grammar and unprofessional documents: if the company is legitimate, they should have tried to use high-quality documents. Be cautious if contact information is only generic email addresses.

• How to Use Your Network: Try to connect via LinkedIn with individuals who work/ have worked at the company or the agency. This should give you an idea on how HR professionals would verify if an international job is legitimate.

• How to Verify their Address: Using Google Maps, use the street view function to see what the enterprises address actually looks like; does it actually look like a business establishment?

• How to Search for Scam Alerts: If there are warnings or negative reviews online, all you have to do is type the company/agency name in Google with the word "scam" or "fraud" or "reviews" !

Keep in mind, to apply anywhere for overseas jobs, always use MEA registered agencies available via eMigrate portal. This is really your primary source for how to check real overseas jobs and avoid fake job offers for abroad!

What are the 5 Key Points to Identify a Fake Job Offer Letter?

In order to protect yourself from job offer scams, you need to be alert in your review of any offer letter. We have put together five key checks below of what HR professionals look for to spot fake job offers.

1. How to Check Job Details and Branding: Look closely at the company's name, their logo, and the job description compared to the company's official website. There may be small differences, for example, misspelling of names (Adidas vs. Adiddas) or wrong job roles; these fall under the foreign job offers. You can also check whether the company has presence on professional networks.

2. What is the Email Source: An offer must come from an official company email (e.g., name@companydomain.com) and not generic email accounts like Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail. Legitimate companies don't use personal email accounts for official recruitment. If the email is not an official company email address, consider it a huge red flag for job offer scams.

3. How to Check Salary and Benefits: If the salary or benefits look too good to be true, then they likely are. To be sure, conduct a search for similar salaries for the role on websites like AmbitionBox or Glassdoor. You should also beware of job offers for ridiculous overseas salaries.

4. Why to check for any Urgency: Fake offers use pressure tactics by attempting to make you respond urgently. You need to respond urgently since the offer will expire soon (maybe within a week). A legitimate company will provide you time to consider such a huge decision. This type of urgency method is a common job scam tactic used in India.

5. How to Conduct a Proper Background Check: Make sure that the company and recruitment agency is real! A legitimate agency like Voltech HR Services Pvt Ltd will have their MEA license number proudly displayed on the website! Conduct your own investigation of the agency, the company, and scams; Google, LinkedIn and the eMigrate portal for scam alerts. Part of your assessment on overseas job offers.

Conclusion: Safeguarding Your Overseas Job Journey

The ambition of obtaining a well-paying job internationally is a significant incentive for many Indian graduates and skilled workers. But as we are aware, there are serious risks involved. Disreputable, unregistered recruitment agencies have exploited the opportunity for the dream of a better job abroad; they deceive candidates while subjecting them to often shocking levels of fraud, including scams for cyber slavery jobs, which can lead to terrible and dangerous consequences. The Indian job seeker can absolutely remove these dangers by trusting knowledge and vigilance.

Verify, verify, and verify again recruitment agencies using the eMigrate portal. Make sure that the agency is truly registered with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and additionally be sure you conduct thorough checks on the credibility of the overseas companies and the validity of the job offer. Indian Government preventative measures such as public awareness campaigns (e.g., Pathu Ponga) and continued crackdowns on fraudsters show the Indian Government is trying to protect them as citizens. When you follow the government advice, do your checks and report offers to the nearest Protector of Emigrants (POE) office for anything suspicious, you can work on achieving your global career dreams safely. Empowered knowledge, caution, and informed decision-making should be enough to convert your dream of work abroad into a potential reality while obtaining safe overseas employment in India.

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