Criminals are exploiting OLX, an online platform for buying and selling goods and services, to perpetrate job fraud. They post fake job advertisements promising lucrative salaries ranging from Rs 40,000 to Rs 70,000 per month in reputed companies. A woman from Sreekaryam, Thiruvananthapuram, with a BTech degree in Computer Science, recently fell victim to this scam.
The woman, seeking an IT job, came across an advertisement for an automotive-embedded role on OLX. After expressing interest, she was contacted by a person posing as a career consultant associated with leading companies. He asked for her resume and later claimed there was a vacancy in a top automotive firm but insisted she complete a certification course to qualify.
The course fees were Rs 12,000 for online classes and Rs 15,000 for offline sessions, with an advance payment of Rs 5,000 required for study materials and certificates. After sending a screenshot of the payment, the woman received a course completion certificate without attending any classes. She was then scheduled for a Zoom interview conducted in English and Tamil. Suspicious, she contacted the company directly via email and discovered no such interview had taken place.
The fraudster also requested sensitive information like her PAN card, Aadhaar card, and UIN number. Despite reporting the incident to the cyber helpline (1930), the woman received no assistance, as the promised link for filing a complaint never arrived, and subsequent calls went unanswered.
This incident highlights the growing threat of online job scams and the need for stricter vigilance and prompt action by authorities to protect job seekers from such fraudulent schemes.
