Youths cheated with promise of jobs abroad

Over a score of persons, mostly youths, turned up at the office of the Commissioner of Police here to complain about a fly-by-night placement agency that reportedly cheated over 100 people by taking huge money from them on the promise of getting them lucrative jobs in Mauritius and Dubai.

The youths complained that they approached the agency located at Kalavasal junction seeking employment in hotels in Dubai and Mauritius based on advertisements run on two local cable television channels.

“I was promised the job of cook for a salary of Rs. 92,000 a month in Mauritius. I paid Rs. 1.75 lakh to the agency,” said A. Antonyraj (31) of Tirunagar. Antonyraj, a diploma holder in Catering Technology, was given an air ticket to Mauritius from Mumbai for August 8.

“However, when I came here to collect my ‘return ticket’ as asked by the agency, I came to know that the agency office was locked and the staff switched off their mobile phones,” he said.

The youths had paid between Rs. 1 lakh and Rs. 2 lakh for the promised jobs in hotels and bars.

M. Kannan, an accountant with a fireworks unit in Sivakasi, too was duped with an offer of the job of general helper for a monthly salary of Rs. 57,000.

Meanwhile, the youths got a message that some of the job aspirants had to return from Mumbai after the authorities did not allow them to proceed to Mauritius on the tourist visa.