9 Kasaragod men get jobs in Dubai after being duped by fake recruitment agent

Kasaragod, Sept 12: Thanks to the efforts of kind-hearted NRI businessmen in United Arab Emirates, as many as nine gulf job aspirants who were duped by a fake recruitment agent have finally secured jobs in Dubai.

The nine job seekers, all from Kerala’s Kasaragod district, had fallen for fake offers that promised them roles as 'sales professionals' at a supermarket in Muhaisnah by the fake agent who was himself looking to land a job on a visit visa.

Fortunately, Indian community members came to the rescue of the duped men. Interestingly, no complaints have been filed against the fake agent and he has been put up with a family member till the issue is sorted out. Efforts would be made to return their money, community members said.

This is how the man put his now discredited plan into action after the group of nine had arrived in the UAE on visit visas on September 4. The men allegedly paid him Rs50,000 (Dh2,552) each, according to Hari Kottachery, a Dubai-based social worker who with the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre helped resolve the issue.

Kottacherry said that the fraudster did not "deliberately" dupe or abandon the nine men. "Their flight landed on September 4 at 11.35pm from Mangaluru International Airport." All nine stayed inside Dubai Terminal 1 till 6am the next morning as they were no accommodation plans in place.

"The man was clueless. All his knowledge came from searching online," said Kottacherry. Once they got out of the airport, the agent took a taxi and instructed the cab driver to go to a supermarket in Karama. "It was only later that we realised that the agent was also new to Dubai. Based on information he had heard from others and after searching online, he realised there is a place called Karama," said one of the victims.

"When the job hunt in Karama proved futile, he took the men to Sonapur. He would ask the men to wait outside while he would enquire about vacancies." When this yielded no jobs, the men realised something was amiss.

So, one of the men enquired with a manager at a supermarket who said that they were not hiring workers. When confronted, the agent confessed that this was his first visit to the UAE and he was hoping to go door-to-door looking for opportunities for himself along with others.

The victims were promised Dh1,500 salaries plus overtime, accommodation, and other monetary benefits. "We were shocked to find out that the whole thing was cooked up. This guy had relentlessly chased the nine of us for seven months to fix the entire thing. We found out that he had no clue about Dubai. He didn't have contacts, he didn't know any place in Dubai. Nothing," the victims said.

"We have found jobs for all nine men and all of them have already begun work,” said Anwar Naha, president of the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre.