Beware of job and money ‘scams’

Police are investigating a company in this country, operating a service which helps people get jobs in the USA. However, the catch is, most of the clients are not getting jobs, neither are they getting refunds of the money they pay up-front for the service. At least one woman has reported her plight to the Fraud Squad, but was told there was very little that they could do. About two years ago, she saw an ad in the newspaper with a migration employment agency advertising their service to help people get overseas jobs legally. The woman answered the advertisement and was told that she had to pay $50 registration and $300 to process her documents and certificate of good character. They told her the $350 was non-refundable.

She was told that if she paid the company the $2,500 for her ticket and other documents, she could start preparing for her trip. Excited about her pending journey, she invested more money on suitcases.  After waiting for about six months, she was told that her trip was cancelled. Another six months passed and the company told her that she had to wait a while longer because the US Embassy said they could do nothing because of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Her trip was cancelled at least twice thereafter and the victim said despite many attempts to get an answer from the company, she has only received the “run-around.” She said she was determined to get back the money and managed to get back the $2,500 she had paid up front for the ticket. Disappointed and angry at her experience, she said: “What about the other people, the innocent ones who have all paid money to this company.”

The police said they were aware of the situation since they had several bounced cheques in their possession issued to the company. The woman called the “service” a “scam,” pointing out that if scores of people pay the $350 non-refundable money, that is a lot of cash being invested to the owner of the company. The woman made her own checks and discovered that the company is a local affiliate of a US-based company. Sunday Newsday discovered that the local company was not registered with the Ministry of Legal Affairs,’ Registrar of Companies and is operating illegally. A source at the Ministry admitted there were a number of companies in TT operating illegally, and lamented the lack of law enforcement which cannot clamp down on unscrupulous businesses.

An official from the Board of Inland Revenue said their department had several officers who check up on all businesses to ensure they comply with the laws regarding tax collections. She said BIR was also privy to businesses which advertise their services in newspaper advertisements and admitted that quite a few of them are unscrupulous. Minister of Consumer of Legal Affairs, Danny Montano, could only say that if a person has been robbed by such a company, that is a matter for the police to investigate. The general public, although aware of the dangers in doing business with these sort of companies, continue to do so at their own risk. Another official argued, however, that there were thousands of companies in TT doing similar services. He said: “A business can offer any service it wishes.” But Public Affairs Officer at the US Embassy, Stacey Rose-Blass, said while she knew there were scores of businesses in TT offering immigration services, not one of them is officially sanctioned by the US government, nor the US Embassy.

Despite repeated warnings from the US Embassy about these operations, people continue to try to get jobs in the USA through the service of these fictitious operations. One victim said she approached at least three agencies offering similar services and every one of them requested  a deposit of some sort. “One of them asked for a down-payment of $500 and another asked for a $35 deposit for an information kit. All of this is clearly a scam to get people’s money,” she said. She advised people seeking migration and job information to the US, to use the official Embassy website-usembassy.state.gov-trinidad. Another client — a man — who was also affected said while he withheld the $2,500 ticket money, he still had to pay the non-refundable $350.

“They keep making promises that they can’t make,” he said. He admitted that he had not reported the incident to the police but said he intended to do so soon and is urging other people who have been affected, to do the same. A senior official at the Fraud Squad admitted that quite a few people have been caught by some of these companies and when they do, they approach the Fraud Squad to investigate the matter. “But that in itself is very difficult to do because through the advertisement it is hard to track them down.

Sometimes, when we eventually get a lead, it is because we find out that the person or business folds up the business,” he said. He is urging the public to be more cautious when dealing with these companies, whose reliability can be assessed through the Ministry of Legal Affairs, Registrar of Companies. “If the Ministry can’t verify if the company is legal, follow your instinct and leave it alone. It is the consumer’s responsibility to be more alert,” the Fraud Squad official said. He advised that if people have been ripped off in a bad way, they should send a report to the Civil Court as well.