CAREER OPPORTUNITY/JOB SCAMS

We all have dreams and aspirations. Unfortunately, in a third world country like Pakistan, we have more dreams than opportunities to make them come true. With the state of economy the way it is, there are very few amongst us who have decent jobs that can help us fulfill our basic needs. Out of our necessity to better our lives and to fulfill the needs and desires of ourselves and our loved ones, we are all the time thinking of ways to make our dreams come true. For this reason, we are always desperate for a better job and even a complete change of career. It is our desires and our desperation for fulfilling them that the scammers are exploiting. You need to be aware that there are a lot of career opportunities or job scams in Pakistan.

With so many people living below poverty line, there are so many unsuspecting people falling prey to these scammers every day. The targets of career opportunity scams are from the entire spectrum of the demography. From ladies, widows, students to the already desperate victims of earthquake and now the IDPs of the Northern Areas have fallen prey to the career opportunity scams.

Modus Operandi

It all starts with an advertisement through any medium (newspaper, television, letter, SMS, telephone call, website, email or word of mouth, you name it. The advertisement may offer very attractive opportunity of a work at home scheme, job abroad, online payment processor, franchise, commission agent etc. It could be a company offering to market your invention or publish your book. It could be a company offering to create products based on your ideas.

Regardless of the type of opportunity presented, all such schemes have one thing in common: They all promise you huge income in a relatively short period of time; dreams (read fantasies) come true. But once you are convinced and have filled their registration forms and submitted all the data, they will all require you to pay a small amount up-front on one pretext or another. In all the excitement, some people may not realize that they are being cheated and end up paying. It is this amount that they are deprived of and it is lost forever. This is what is known as the advance fee fraud. Shattered dreams and loss of hard earned money. Money that is really hard to come by in a developed country like ours with so much unemployment.

Prevention

Do not believe everything you read in advertisements or what people tell you. Don’t believe in anything that is too good to be true. Try to verify the credentials of the advertiser before you make a decision. Does the advertiser have a brick and mortar address? does it have a land line telephone number? Is it a regulated entity? If so, verify with the regulator. Is it a new company or a well established old company of repute?

Learn to question everything. Ask the experts in the field. The more questions you ask, the more informed your decision will be. Never trust anyone who promises fortunes and then asks for a fee up-front. Don’t deal with anyone if you have to pay up front. The habit of questioning will save you from lot of pain, misery and financial distress. Because if you do become a victim of a scam, chances are the scammers will have disappeared with your money along with thousands of others like you. Even if you get them, the legal battle may last for years and cost you more time and money than you had lost to begin with. Prevention is always better than cure. Take care.