Names of top IT firms used in email IDs to lure students into making deposits
After almost a year of searching for an IT job in Chennai, S. Mohana, an engineering graduate from Tirupati, recently got a mail from ‘Infinity Software Services', telling her, “Congratulations, you meet all the requirements of our vacant post for a software trainee. You can join us from February 1, after a brief round of verification about which you will be intimated shortly.”
Mohana was ecstatic, because all that she had to do to get the job was enrol for an ‘online trainee course on database management' by paying Rs 10,000 to a certain placement agency she had registered with. A month's power-point lessons on ‘basics of database management' later, she went to the offices of ‘Infinity Software Services' in Nungambakkam, only to find an entirely different company with an entirely different name functioning from that address. “It was an animation company, and the staff there had no clue of the job offer. The agency that offered me the job doesn't exist too. Even the email IDs have become dysfunctional (sic) now,” she said.
This is not an isolated incident of engineering graduates being duped. Nearly 60 students of Aarupadai Veedu Institute of Technology were lured by an agency that promised them software jobs with decent pay once they shelled out Rs. 5,000 each for training. “Despite several warnings from professors and college administration, we decided to go for the agency's offer. When you don't have campus recruitments, it is natural to fall for such offers,” said a student.
MCA students are the ones who often cheated in large numbers. S. Selvaraghavan, a student from a private engineering college on OMR, says, “Most of these agencies know that a certain number of students are not eligible for recruitment in IT companies or have many arrears. They approach us through a common Google group. While many students ignore such mails, there are some who take them seriously because the mail has employee codes, holograms, office locations, details of the training programmes — complete with name and designation of the signatory. These often convince students.”
Many of these emails originate from IDs that do not look fake. “I got an offer from hclvacancies@rediffmail.com, saying I got selected in the off-campus interview I had attended that weekend. So I had no doubts at all,” says Kannan Rajkumar, a graduate of SRM University. “When I responded to the mail, I was asked to deposit Rs.10,000 in a bank account as a refundable deposit for sending air tickets for the interview in Bangalore. Sometimes, these companies also insist on medical tests and clearly ask us to bring cash, because they don't accept payment by cards,” he said.
TCS is among the many companies often cited as a potential employer by such fraudulent offers. The company, on the careers page of its web site, has put an alert about fake job offers and has also created a toll-free TCS Careers Serviceline for people to report such job alerts. Other companies including Wipro, HCL Technologies, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Hyundai, Aricent have expressed their concerns too.
“Companies do not send job offers from free email services like Gmail, Rediffmail, Yahoomail or Hotmail. They might employ the services of an agent, agency or company to conduct employment interviews, but they certainly do not authorise people to charge any security amount or even offer jobs,” says an HR official of TCS.
NASSCOM has urged students to be careful of such fraudulent offers. “Companies have an operation process, details of which are available on their websites. Students can always call the numbers listed to get more clarity, instead of falling prey to the fake offers,” says K. Purushottaman, regional director, NASSCOM. “And, never trust any company that asks you to deposit money affront. No reputed company will ever ask you to do that.”
Keywords: NASSCOM, IT industry
Hi., All are good student no one is dull in our India., most of the student only have the degree certificate not equal talent to their degree then how company give offer to that kind of student ., I'm also one of this list student.,
I to got such offer Maruti Suzuki for interview saying that my chances are very bright.I knew upto some extent that companies donot give hope to any one saying that your chances are bright.They were asking for 10000 Rs and then I saw email id(hr.maruti@gmail.com) something like this and then I thought donot they have their own id like hr@maruti.com.Then I became sure these things are fraud.
Being an IT graduate, I know it is very difficult for us to find the job in a reputed firm. I insist everyone to be careful with such emails as these may threaten your future.And if the company is of foreign origin and if they ask you to submit the money, tell them that you are going to send the money to the Indian Embassy first and then collect it from there. Surely, if the company is reputed then it will move on and ask you to send the money. Otherwise the result shall be in-front of you.
"MCA students are the ones who often cheated in large numbers"
i thought this was real.. lookes like a typo, missed "who are".
By the way i finished my engineering in 2004 and even during those days we had plenty of such frauds happening, i used to get such emails as well. If we think a bit about the email and the situation, it will be very obvious that its a fraud. Though i do have my sorries for the chaps who were tricked, please do read the emails and understand that no company who wants to recruit you legally would want money through emails.
It is said that a fool is born somewhere in the world, every minute. I guess it is our smarts, to avoid being one such. I too get emails once every two or three months - initially it was from Nigeria. Apparently, this guy had access to millions of British pounds, locked up in a Bank in U.K. He needed just 25,000 pounds in certified transfers, to help him 'bribe' the British and once he got hold of the money, 50% was mine :). I let it pass, but apparently, some of my fellow Canadians did not. Including an elderly couple in Alberta, who after the initial payment, were sucked into paying their entire life savings, before they realized they were duped. If it looks too good to be true, it is. Buyer beware.
ps. The other day I got an email supposedly from my uncle (it had my uncle's genuine email address). He wanted money urgently. Except that his sick son was named Fernandez :)Yet to meet a Tamilian relative of mine, with a son named Fernandez!!
First of all thanks to 'THE HINDU' for publishing this matter at a right time for students those who didn't know about this fake offers coming through famine email id's and moreover government should consider as a serious matter because students future will spoiled and they will got depressed, if they discrete by such emails.
Pathetic!! If these IT graduates can't even differentiate between spam and legitimate emails.. may be they should rethink their career options!
Many students instead of working hard and increasing their skills, they tend to reach their goal by using such shortcuts (consultants), who promise to place them after they get their training. In most of the cases there are no placements and trainees are asked to attend regular interviews / Trainees are placed as temporary employees and now the new kind of cheating mentioned in this news.
How can they fall for mails from public mail services ? Does it shows that they are desperate ? or is there a lack of advisers for students in colleges ?
Sir, I think this miscreants who parade themselves as fims that don't exist should be apprehended by our law enforcement agencies in order to put a hault to this menance,imeam its ihuman.and also let this young graduates never be so anxious to lookin for jobs.
This is indeed a painful news. When you do get mails like this try this for a starter:
1) Check the domain name. If a reputed company has spent cores in building its brand name it must have a few thousand to own a domain name
2) If there exists a name in the email trail from the source cross check the same with Linked-In network. If possible verify the same
3) If the above two have hit a road block go into the carrier portal of the company there will be a common email address for the H.R department. On responding to original mail keep the H.R of the company in C.C and ask them to validate the same. In doing so even the company will get to know who many frauds are happening
Hope this helps.
Sad hearing this...Anyway hope this becomes a lesson for other students to learn... I too faced such situations few weeks back where i was invited by a fraud malaysian Oil and piping company ;)... I dumped their mail as soon as i recieved it..:D
This is a shocking news.These frauds knows how to make money and they can make it from anywhere!!!.Such frauds are increasing at an alarming rate and an eye should be kept on these devils.Even one day I also got a mail saying that you have been appointed in TATA MOTORS.I wondered that for an IT graduate this seems completely inappropriate and spam, the address in the mail says about a company in Coimbatore.Such tricksters should get a lesson.
It is such a shame that these students call themselves IT graduates. Do they not have common sense? How much does it take to directly call the company and confirm that there is a vacancy and that they have indeed hired the agent in question to short-list candidates on their behalf? More over - it is known fact that emails not coming from the original domains of the companies - are mostly spam & fraud mails (like hclvacancy@gmail.com)
It a painful news. I too came across the same incident but i was escaped. i was asked to pay Rs.45,000 when i was placed in a software company at bangalore. I was suggested not to move forward,so i quit the offer.Nowadays Many engineers are surviving without a job which is relavant to their streams.They are being depressed more by this kinds of fradulent job offers.Govt has to keep eye on it and steps should be taken to help the jobless engineers to survive in this competitive world.
“I got an offer from hclvacancies@rediffmail.com, saying I got selected in the off-campus interview I had attended that weekend. So I had no doubts at all,” says Kannan Rajkumar, a graduate of SRM University. I have a doubt about these students. Are they really educated? If it is yes, they could have called the exact HR of the concerned company and know the address first and then try to meet them after convincing the fact they can pay the whatever amount the authorised person demands as fee or ticket fare etc., We are receiving so many fake mail messages which we have to just IGNORE. This LESSON all students must learn first and then start seeking nice jobs. I am aged 60 years [lady] Nowadays u must have doubt in all walks of your life dear students, it is a MUST for today's trend. Everybody (75%) is after money. Please make your life successful U R In the midst of robbers.
Who are these IT graduates? Aren't these so called IT graduates educated or are these IT graduates only qualified? They are mature and know very well about the industry and they future job prospectus in National as well as international job market. If these IT graduates falling into the traps of "agency" then imagine the flight of SSLC, PUC and BA graduates. Getting a job for these so called IT graduates has become a prestigious issue. They not only MUST know all the nuances about their subject but also know how to survive in the society.
When the jobs for engineers are limited some smart one makes money. To stop this the wages of skilled worker(as per Factories Act) should be so high people will automatically be drawn to it since it is always the money that matters than the job. In Kerala nowadays there is dearth of manual labour as no one is willing to do work in the farrms. Kindly look into this aspect too.
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