Job seekers suing recruiters over scam offers

The Consumer Council of Hong Kong has warned young employment seekers about the "job trap". It's a scam that extracts hefty sums from the young job seekers, in exchange for offers of employment. Complaints about these services have soared.

They work something like this: the job seekers are required to buy into some kind of training course, or they have to buy products or services. That's when they are supposed to get the job offers.

The council said most of the victims are students or young people who have left school only recently. The council cautioned anyone to be on the alert when they are required to pre-purchase any product or service, before being offered a job. The council suggested that job seekers request that promises made by the purveyors of these services be written into a contract. Verbal promises should not be trusted.

In one case, Mei-mei, who had just finished secondary school, was persuaded to buy a package of products and services at a beauty parlor when interviewed for a job there. It would cost Mei-mei HK$30,000. But there was no problem with that. A representative of a financial firm was right there to make all the arrangements for her to get a loan for the amount. After being taken in by the scam, it took Mei-mei a while before she came to the conclusion she had been ripped off. She went to the Consumer Council and complained. Mei-mei was advised to go through the courts after her request for a refund of her money was declined. Some have complained that they were forced to complete the transactions under pressure, even threats by the so-called recruiters.

In the case of Ka-yee, who went to a music agency for a job audition, she was led to believe the music director was a famous song writer. Ka-yee was told she could start the job after completing a training course, that would cost her HK$38,000. When she hesitated, Ka-yee shrank back, when the recruiter suddenly jumped out of his chair and slammed the desk hard. The recruiter then asked Ka-yee to pay HK$1,600 immediately. Feeling under pressure and even fearful, Ka-yee signed the documents and submitted her credit card as she was required to do.The sum shown on the transaction record was HK$38,000. She asked for her money back and was refused.

Earlier this week, eight women, aged 20 to 50, filed a lawsuit through the Small Claims Tribunal. They had all been tricked into paying up to HK$30,000 for facial procedures, makeup or other services to prepare them to become part time models.

According to the council, 77 complaints about scams of this sort were filed last year, a 120 percent increase over the 35 complaints in 2010. Among the complaints, 36 were related to job offers for modeling, requiring treatments at beauty salons. Consumers had HK$1.43 million lifted from their wallets in the 77 scams. By the beginning of this month, another 19 cases of such complaint was recorded