This week saw news that hospitality workers outside the EU are being duped into handing over large sums of money on the false promise of employment but tricksters masquerading as bona fide hoteliers.
This follows a tip-off from a reader of www.catererandhotelkeeper.com in the Phillipines, who was asked for £400 supposedly to process visa documents ahead of taking up a job at Hotel Verta by Rhombus. The reader feared he was being tricked and sadly he was right - when Caterer contacted Verta, they confirmed that they had never offered the post in the first place and knew nothing of the supposed recruitment process taking place in the hotel's name.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened. Verta has previously had a worker from abroad turn up at the doorstep waiting to take up a position that never existed.
Is this practice widespread? Do you have experience of tricksters using the name of your business under false pretences in the same, or a similar way? And can anything be done to stop it?
Sadly this practice is not new and is effecting a lot of hotels in Asia. Well-known brands like Ritz Carlton and JW Marriott have also been targeted and Europeans seeking Asian opportunities are also falling victims to these scams. I am aware of an individual who was telephone interviewed twice, Once by the General Manager and once by the HR Manager (All impersonators using the real names of the actual people holding these roles in the hotel) and then the offer was made. He subsequently accepted the offer and resigned from his current position and was then later requested a 50% down payment for his flights to guarantee he was genuine and committed. He then reached out to friends for advice if this was the accepted practice for Asia, and when the hotel was contacted directly it came to light that the position was not open and that the offer had never been made. The hotel in question is aware of the scam and has informed the local authorities who are investigating. Please all be aware, this scam is not just leveled at people who are seeking rank and fine positions, it also is aimed a senior management and all people who are visa dependent. The scam is very convincing and when the offer comes, I recommend to people to reach out to others on sites like Linkedin and ensure that the offer is genuine before resigning. The open positions are often posted on reputable sites like Catererglobal.com. If the position is advertised by the hotel, they will generally have the positioned advertised from their own recruitment website and I would recommend applying there directly.
Good luck and beware of these scams as they are ruining the beauty of our industry and its ability to allow us to work in any country in the world
Thanks for the response Chef Dee - we had a feeling it was probably more widespread. They sound like quite sophisticated scams, doing everything they can to make the potential employee believe it is a genuine offer. Pretty cynical stuff.
Not on the same level and not wishing to get banned but can the caterer also comment on why it continues to advertise jobs that are either filled or on last interviews...
enmasse.nz: Not on the same level and not wishing to get banned but can the caterer also comment on why it continues to advertise jobs that are either filled or on last interviews...
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