MP warns Thais to be wary after fake job agency scams 50 women

The Minister of Labour warned citizens to be wary after a group of Thai women were swindled out of thousands by a fraudulent job agency.

Suchart Chomklin acknowledged he was aware of scams on a number of Facebook accounts that are advertising attractive job positions in places such as the United Arab Emirates where they are promising one thing but delivering another.

“When victims arrived in the country, they’d be forced to do other jobs such as sex work or gambling jobs and their passports would be seized. Many women victims have been forced to have sex or were physically injured.”

Ekkaphop Luangprasert, who is the administrator of a Facebook page, Sai Mai Tong Rod Rescue, said the women had not been forced into sex work but they had been scammed.

The Thai women yesterday complained that a local woman and her Korean husband had swindled them out of thousands in a working abroad scam.

The women reported they had been duped into paying money for jobs that didn’t exist.

Ekkaphop revealed she lodged the complaint on behalf of 50 women with the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division.

The couple boasted their agency had delivered over 2,000 workers to overseas employment, but they needed the women to hand over large sums of money to deliver those jobs.

One victim made it known that she saw a job advertised on the agency’s Facebook guaranteeing employment for Thai citizens, but it came at a cost. Job seekers were asked to shell out 7,500 baht for travel insurance and between 15,000-100,000 baht for other costs.

The victim said the agency needed to set her up with counterfeit immigration documents for travel reasons. But when she checked with the Korean immigration office on Friday, July 8, she discovered she did not pass the required process. The victim tried to contact the agency but they had blocked all the channels from reaching them.

Ekkaphop reported that his page has received dozens of complaints from women who had been lured to pay for jobs in Europe and Asia that do not exist.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post