JOB OFFERING SCAMMERS USING
NAMFISA AS BAIT
In a previous edition of the Consumer Education
Bulletin, the NAMFISA Chief Executive Officer alerted the public to a scam doing the rounds, using the name of NAMFISA as bait.
The modus operandi of the scammers is to place an advertisement in local newspapers, listing a number of jobs on offer. Upon enquiry, members of the public are invited for ‘interviews’ and are told there and then that they are successful. They are, however, given a condition that they should first acquire a registration certificate from NAMFISA before they are confirmed as employees.
Desperate jobseekers are then told that in order for them to receive the registration certificate, they need to pay a certain amount of money into the bank account of the would-be employers. This amount, according to information obtained from some applicants, could amount to N$3,000 per person.
Jobseekers, who are in most cases oblivious of what is happening to them, will go to every length to find the money, often borrowing it from family or friends. Some even cause their family members to borrow money from microlenders (cash loans) and naturally such loans are to be repaid with interest.
Another trick of the scammers is to tell the jobseekers or applicants that they must fax their bank deposit slips to a certain fax number and then meet their prospective employers at a certain location.
After all the eagerness, energy and enthusiasm with which the jobseekers go through the process of getting the money and depositing it into the given back account, they would then attempt to reach their prospective employer to get further information on commencement date, salary and other benefits.
When they do eventually call for this information, jobseekers find that the number they are calling no long exists on the operator’s network. When they visit the office where they first met their prospective employers, they are told that the people are no longer doing business from that office and that, in fact, they merely rented the space for a few days. When the jobseekers then rush to the bank to retrieve their money, they find that the account into which they have paid the money has been closed and the scammers have withdrawn all the money.
A number of Namibian youth have fallen prey to this scam and, as a last resort, they approach NAMFISA to claim their registration or their money back since
they have the mistaken belief that their money has been paid to NAMFISA for certification. The whole experience ends very badly for the applicants who realise too late that they have been scammed. They now sit with the burden of having to repay those they loaned money from and to continue their pursuit of job opportunities.
NAMFISA therefore advises members of the public that the Authority does not issue certificates to any individual who applies for a job as a driver, secretary, legal assistant and/or security guard at any private company. Any member of the public who suspects that an individual or individuals are using
NAMFISA’s name to entice people with job offers in return for payment should immediately report the matter to the police or approach NAMFISA directly for swift action to be taken.
“The time to save money is when
you have some.”
– Joe Moore