How fake employment rackets con you?

The telephone call, from a landline, was followed by an email. The call itself came as a surprise. Surely, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) would not bother to call up a fresh journalism graduate who has just put up a profile on a job portal?

But the lady was persuasive enough. Could I please take a look at the email she was about to send and respond?

The attachment contained a PDF file with the familiar Tata logo jumping out of the page. It was a euphoric moment but there was this lurking disbelief at the back of my mind. It certainly seemed too good to be true.

My heart sank after reading the very first paragraph. A company like TCS would not have so many mistakes in formal communications, I told myself. The very first sentence read, “…after viewing of your resume the recruiting board members are too impressed with your profile and we are pleasure to inform you that you are selected…”

The PDF went on to state:

• Hence, they selected you for this great interview round
• Therefore, we are referring you your Interview letter
• Tata Consultancy Services is a team of more than 50,000 TCS-sites spread across multiple locations around the globe

The initial shock at the instances of linguistic terrorism gave way to amusement as the second paragraph of the three-page note declared that “The company proposal to you to join as an Executive/ Senior Executive/ HR Manager…the long list included everything from Accounts Officer to Web designer, from Chemical Engineer to Dental Medical Officer, from fashion designers to animators. Whew!

It was followed by the following clarification: “We also need to declare you that your job profile will be related to your resume…”. As if this was not enough, this was reinforced by the following line: “We need to declare to you that this time Tata Consultancy Services is urgently hiring the bulk candidates across India and abroad for our different companies…”

While the list of Tata companies for which the recruitment was being made ostensibly by TCS included Tata Motors and the Tata Memorial Hospital, the offer continued to become better as one read on:

• The selected candidate keep the right of being getting posted nearby their home (sic)
• The company has the right to increase your salary and allowances

The breathtaking offer mentioned that as an Assistant Manager in India, the starting salary would range between ₹56,400 to ₹1.87 lakh per month, besides allowances!

Which company offers to pay for a family member who would accompany you to the interview? And that’s not all. It stated, “We also inform to you that the company will be providing you the both side Air/Train fare and all of expenses and feeding for your walk-in process.”

The company was so considerate that it offered to hold the interview in any city of the candidate’s choice if New Delhi is not found suitable!

But then came the catch. Before the ‘Walk In Interview’, a sum of eight thousand rupees had to be deposited in a nationalised bank. The bank details were to be provided by a Recruiting Manager, Sanjeev Khanna.

The icing on the cake was yet to come. “…Nobody, company employee or customer care person, is able to provide any kind of information about this interview process to the candidate in spite of the authorised recruiting manager Dr Sanjeev Khanna.”

The elaborate but amateurish attempt to con job seekers shows the desperate lengths to which the unemployed are prepared to go to dupe other job seekers. And while some can undoubtedly see through the amateurish attempt at conning, many may have already fallen prey.