Xinhua Perspective | There may be traps behind "high salaries" and beware of recruitment fraud. Multiple employment services | job seekers | fraud | recruitment

Nanning, August 7th (Xinhua) - There may be traps behind "high salaries", beware of recruitment fraud and multiple tricks

Xinhua News Agency's "Xinhua Perspective" reporters He Wei and Lin Fanshi

False promises of "drawing big cakes", playing "word games" in contracts, setting up "leather bag companies" to sell dog meat... Xinhua Vision reporters found that during the job search season, some unscrupulous elements set up various tricks to lure job seekers into being deceived.

Job seekers are checking job information at the 2023 National Large and Medium sized City Tour Recruitment Event for the Future of Employment. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Kaihua

Repeatedly using "high salaries" as bait to commit fraud

The reporter logged into the Black Cat Complaint Platform and found nearly 15000 complaint results related to "recruitment", many of which involve recruitment companies false advertising and employment training institutions deceiving job seekers. A survey conducted by Zhilian Recruitment showed that 33.6% of respondents reported experiencing recruitment fraud firsthand, and 29.7% of respondents reported that their relatives and friends had experienced recruitment fraud.

"Recruiting dedicated line drivers, starting at a monthly salary of 10000 yuan." In February of this year, Yang Yuan from Nandan County, Guangxi, saw on a recruitment website that a logistics company was recruiting dedicated line drivers for trucks, and his monthly income was quite attractive. The company staff told him that if he wants to run the dedicated line, he needs to use the driver's own truck. If there is no truck, he needs to borrow money from the company to purchase it.

Under the continuous lobbying of company staff, promising sufficient supply of goods and high salaries, Yang Yuan borrowed 79600 yuan from a financial company to purchase a second-hand truck for 120000 yuan.

Afterwards, Yang Yuan did not receive any business, only to find out that there was no so-called dedicated line, and the company did not provide him with any other sources of goods. Yang Yuancai realized that he had been scammed - not only did he not find a job, but he also took on a loan. At present, Yang Yuan has reported the case to the local public security department, and the police have begun to intervene in the investigation.

In addition, training loans are also a common tactic in recruitment scams. Zhou Ping, from Chengdu, Sichuan Province, told reporters that he saw a recruitment information for a short video operation job on a certain recruitment website, which had no requirements for education and work experience, and a minimum salary of 4000 yuan. Xiao Zhou was informed during his job application that he needs to undergo three months of training before starting work, with a cost of 19800 yuan. The company stated that it is responsible for arranging work after the training is completed, and the training fee can be obtained through installment loans. At that time, a portion of the salary will be used to repay the loan.

After listening to the two-day course, Xiao Zhou signed the loan contract. But after the training course is over, the company staff only send recruitment information in the class group, and specific positions still need to be applied for by themselves. In the end, Xiao Zhou not only failed to secure his job, but also incurred debts.

Recently, the People's Court of Songjiang District, Shanghai, publicly announced a recruitment fraud case. The criminal gang used the victim's cognitive bias towards the nature of the certificate, used high paying positions as bait, and used the excuse of having to hold a certificate to obtain "study certificate" fees. From April 2022 to the crime, the criminal gang defrauded more than 180000 yuan of multiple victims in Xinjiang, Xizang, Inner Mongolia, Henan, Gansu, Chongqing, Yunnan, Guangdong and other places.

Revealing recruitment fraud tricks

The investigation by reporters found that fraudsters use various means to lure job seekers to "hook up".

False promises to "draw big cakes". Criminals use low thresholds and high salaries as bait, waiting for job seekers to come and make various false promises, gradually leading them into traps.

"We are a regular company, working hours are free, and you can make money." "You can complete the super task list, and the reward is high.".

The investigators explained that the fraudster disguised himself as a corporate recruiter and "painted a big cake" for Ms. Wang, who was eager to find a job. He invited her to do simple tasks and immediately gave her a small reward. After gaining trust, he increased the task amount and fabricated various reasons for her to top up, bet, and continuously swipe orders until her bank card balance was insufficient, but she failed to withdraw.

Some play "word games" with strict conditions. Although recruitment companies make various promises, they set strict conditions in the contract, which makes it difficult for job seekers to find a basis for rights protection from the contract when they later discover that the company has not fulfilled its promises.

Some have established "leather bag companies" to sell dog meat while hanging sheep's heads. According to the reporter's understanding, in the recent recruitment fraud case announced by the Songjiang District People's Court in Shanghai, defendants Liu and Lei established a shell company in a commercial square and falsely posted false recruitment information on recruitment websites under the name of the employer. The remaining defendants impersonated company salespeople to contact job applicants, induced victims to participate in training through fictitious positions, conducted false interviews, and finally eliminated job seekers on the grounds of stopping recruitment or failing the interview, thereby defrauding a large amount of training registration fees.

Lawyer Qiu Xinxin from Guangxi Dongfang Yiyuan Law Firm told reporters that some victims have discovered that they have been deceived, but they are unable to know the specific identity information of the fraudster and cannot file a lawsuit in court, often falling into a situation where there is no way to protect their rights and no way to seek help.

Multi party efforts to combat recruitment fraud

In response to the frequent occurrence of recruitment fraud, relevant departments are continuously increasing their crackdown. Recently, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Central Cyberspace Administration, and the Ministry of Public Security have issued ten typical pitfalls prevention tips for job recruitment, helping job seekers effectively identify scams, improve risk prevention awareness, and self-protection ability.

The interviewees believe that regulatory efforts should be further strengthened, the access and exit mechanisms for the job market should be improved, the legitimate rights and interests of job seekers should be safeguarded, and the healthy development of the job market should be guaranteed.

Liu Qiuhong, a lawyer at Beijing Yihe Zhonghong Law Firm, said in an interview that relevant departments should further regulate online recruitment activities, guide and supervise online recruitment platforms to establish and improve information release and review systems. Each platform should strengthen the qualification certification of recruitment units and the real name certification of information release personnel, standardize the information release process, establish a recruitment enterprise red and black list system, and ensure that the information released is true, legal, and effective.

Industry insiders suggest strengthening the communication and connection between administrative licensing and labor security supervision and law enforcement, improving the information exchange mechanism of relevant departments, guiding and supervising online recruitment platforms to improve complaint handling mechanisms, and severely punishing those who violate relevant laws and regulations in accordance with the law, forming a regulatory force.

Experts such as Xiong Bingqi, the director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, suggest strengthening job training and anti fraud propaganda for job seekers. Universities should popularize knowledge about job seeking, loans, and financial management, help college students improve their awareness of anti fraud, and make good career plans.