On an advisory posted at the Department of Foreign Affairs website on September 28, 2017, the government is advising all Filipinos to be more careful when applying for jobs in Canada.
There has been an increasing incidence of questionable online recruitment for Filipinos to work in Canada and the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa would like to inform all Filipinos to be aware of this.
Tips to Avoid Getting Scammed
To avoid online job recruitment scams, here are some tips to consider and red flags to watch out for:
1. Unsolicited email from someone or some company who claims to have found your email online and it matches their job recruitment.
If you receive any emails like this, do a quick search on Google to know more about the company or recruitment agency who sent you that email. If you don’t find a legitimate website with a contact person, address, and contact number, then there must be something wrong.
You may also check the list of POEA-licensed agencies to know if the agency is duly accredited by the POEA.
2. High-paying jobs that require little or no experience.
If it sounds “too good to be true”, then something might not be actually true. Most recruitment scams would offer high-paying jobs even if you have no experience. This is far from the truth because most companies now would require that you have at least any idea or background about the job that you’re applying for. Or, if they accept newbies, they wouldn’t offer that much of a salary.
3. Check for poorly-constructed acceptance letter/job offer from the employer. Grammatical and spelling errors are often a sign that the job is not legitimate.
Most scams have poorly written letters or emails while legitimate companies would take time to write professional letters or job offers.
4. Check if the address of the recruiting company matches the given postal code.
For example, if it’s a Canadian company based in Alberta, Canada and the postal code is for somewhere else, then something might be wrong here.
5. Check if the area code of the telephone number provided matches the address.
For example, a Canadian company based in Toronto but with a telephone assigned to New York or India or Nigeria.
6. Payment of work visa fees by the job offer recipient to be coursed through the recruiting company and the alleged company is asking for administrative fees and direct deposit requirements.
7. If the recruiting company fails to mention anything about the processing of Labor Market Impact (LMIA) by the employer or failure to inform about the prescribed procedures for the processing of temporary work visa, then it might not be a legitimate job offer in Canada.
So, what should you do if you encounter or receive any of above?
First, search more about the company to check its legitimacy. You may also contact them through their telephone number, if there’s any.
Second, if you can’t find anything about that company or if you’re nearly sure that it’s a scam, mark the email message as SPAM and delete it immediately. Never click any link on any suspicious email as it might put your computer at risk of virus or malware.
Finally, if there are doubts on whether the job offer you received is legitimate, please report to and contact the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) or the nearest Philippine Foreign Service Post.
- POEA Hotline: 722-11-44 / 722-11-55
- POEA Email Address: info@poea.gov.ph
- POEA Website: www.poea.gov.ph
- POEA Address: Blas F. Ople Building, Ortigas Avenue corner EDSA, Mandaluyong City
Click here to read: Latest Jobs in Canada for Filipinos