Think You’re Getting ‘Faked’? Snoop Around Before Paying

When Elenor Diaz sent $4000 dollars to the Philippines for her family’s airfare last December, she expected her husband and three children to join her in Montreal long before Christmas arrived. Instead, her husband Nilo called her to say they weren’t coming. The air tickets he bought were worthless, because the Manila agent sold him duds and took off with the money. The family went straight back to the village from the airport, disappointed and feeling humiliated.

Elenor’s employer Lissa Matyas called the Montreal Gazette with the story. Readers responded with donations. The owner of an international remittance company paid $5,800 for new air tickets for Nilo Diaz and the three Diaz children. They finally landed in Montreal on December 29th.

Elenor Diaz’s story is both heart warming and cautionary, because it exemplifies both the best and the worst in others.

Scams and fraudulent acts are perpetrated on the trusting all over the world everyday, and one can only wish these things don’t have to happen too often. In the Philippines, most of the scams being committed are related to immigration and foreign job placements. Scammers know that a lot of people are desperate to leave the country, and would pay whatever it takes to get to where they wanted to go.

Countless dreamers have been burned by empty promises, and getting scammed is so common that Filipinos have come up with a term for it, ‘getting faked’. When someone pays for placement in a non-existent job in another country, then learns about it after his agent has disappeared, he’s been ‘faked’. Through the years, as applicants become savvier, the fraudsters get more sophisticated in response. I’ll cite you a concrete example.

Last year, I’ve had the chance to prevent one of these fake job offers from being foisted on a close friend in Manila. I was alerted by the fact that her Canadian agent required US$700 to get her visa approved. The agency was based in Calgary and didn’t have any offices in Manila. From my experience, legitimate placement agencies don’t ask for big amounts of cash but usually get paid by salary deduction.

Fortunately for my friend, she didn’t have the money. She emailed me to ask for a loan. I requested her to send me the agency details. Since I’m already in Canada, it would be easy for me to find out if the opening was genuine. The letters she had received looked legit at first glance. They contained the name of the agency, its address and phone numbers, and the name of my friend’s contact agent. It also gave the name of the Toronto department store where she was supposedly going to work a sales clerk.

Added to all these information was the name of a lawyer purportedly representing the department store, his address and phone numbers. Another letter said that my friend’s work visa would be released a week from the date of the letter. For the hiring to be finalized, they need the money immediately. You can imagine the pressure on my friend to come up with the amount.

I didn’t trust the job offer and asked her permission to let me do more research. I said if it were genuine, I would help her raise the money. First I called the lawyer, but his phone numbers weren’t in service. Then I called the agency in Calgary. I was told that the agent cited in my friend’s files indeed worked in their office, but denied having anything to do with the job offer. They didn’t have any placement contract with said department store in Toronto, and hadn’t heard of said lawyer. I was assured they didn’t place sales people in department stores.

I did an Internet search and found very similar moneymaking schemes in a scam-reporting website. Different agencies, different lawyers. Same amount of money being required. The same modus operandi being played on hapless job seekers, not only in the Philippines but also in Hong Kong and other Asian countries. As long as there are people who are too trusting, or too desperate, there will be others waiting to prey on them and volunteer to give them what they wanted.

My only suggestion is, if an agency asked you for a big amount of cash, don’t pay. Do some research first. Ask questions. Consult friends and relatives. Use the Internet. Chances are if it were an existing scam, others would have reported it. This may not always prevent you from getting faked, but it could help you avoid other instances.

In Nilo Diaz’ case, it’s harder to tell if you’re dealing with a shady air ticket seller. The best thing to do is go straight to an airline ticketing office and buy it from there. It might cost you a bit more, but you’ll get to your destination without any doubts.

(Previously published at the Mill Woods Mosaic, January 15th 2011 issue)