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

coastaldigest.com web desk
September 12, 2018

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.

Comments

Suresh
 - 
Wednesday, 12 Sep 2018

Should thank to the helped guy and arrest the fake agent

Ibrahim
 - 
Wednesday, 12 Sep 2018

Thanks to the NRI good hearted man. He saved them

Kumar
 - 
Wednesday, 12 Sep 2018

These Kasargod people are involving in such activities

Danish
 - 
Wednesday, 12 Sep 2018

Go through only govt institutions. People never learn

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News Network
April 1,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 1: Karnataka government along with BBMP has asked project contractors, builders and developers in the city not to send their labourers to their native place and instead provide them with amenities like food and shelter in this lockdown period.

It was also warned with legal action would be taken against them if they violating the instructions from the government .

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News Network
May 3,2020

Dubai, May 3: Over 150,000 Indians in the UAE, who wish to return home amid the coronavirus lockdown, have applied through the online registration process to the Indian missions here, according to media reports.

The Indian missions in the country last week opened online registration for the expatriates who wish to fly back home after getting stuck in the country amidst the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As of 6 pm on Saturday, we received more than 150,000 registrations, Consul General of India in Dubai Vipul told the Gulf News on Saturday.

A quarter of them want to return to their homeland after losing their jobs, he said.

According to a report in the Khaleej Times on Sunday, about 40 per cent of the applicants who have registered are blue-collared workers and 20 per cent are working professionals.

"Roughly 20 per cent have suffered job losses and about 55 per cent of the total applicants are from Kerala," Neeraj Aggarwal, Consul, Press, Information, Culture was quoted as saying in the report.

Aggarwal said that the figures would change as they are expecting registrations from workers from other states, including Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.

About 10 per cent of the applicants are visit and tourist visa holders who got stranded here due to the ongoing lockdown in India.

India extended the ongoing lockdown by two weeks from May 4 to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has affected nearly 40,000 people in the country.

Aggarwal said that a small number of the applications constitute those from pregnant women and other medical cases.

Since the online registration process was launched, the Consulate's website crashed several times due to the heavy rush of applicants wishing to register to fly back home.

The site has been working fine now though it took a lot of time for it to stabilise in the initial phase due to the heavy traffic, the counsel general said.

He said that the missions here have not yet received any information from the Indian government about the mode of transport of the stranded citizens, the prices of the tickets or how the COVID-19 test results of applicants would be assessed for their journey.

There are high-level discussions going on regarding these things, he said in the report.

Meanwhile, Norka (The Non Resident Keralites Affairs) said it has received a total of 398,000 applications from Keralites across the globe who wish to return home.

"Of which, the highest numbers are from the UAE. At least 175,423 applicants have signed up from the UAE," Norka said in an official statement on Saturday.

It also received 54,305 registrations from Saudi Arabia, 2,437 from the UK, 2,255 from the US, and 1,958 from Ukraine from those who wish to return to India, the Khaleej Times reported.

The coronavirus has infected 13,599 people and claimed 119 lives in the UAE, the Ministry of Health and Prevention said on Saturday.

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News Network
July 31,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 31: Gyms in Bengaluru carried out sanitation work on Thursday following the Centre's nod to reopen gyms from August 5, after several weeks of COVID-induced lockdowns.

"We are taking all the precautionary measures prescribed by the government and will follow the guidelines very strictly. A thermal scanner, oximeter and hand sanitizers have been placed at the entrance of the gym. 

We request all other gym owners also to follow the guidelines strictly to keep their members safe and healthy," said Prasad Kumar, a gym owner in Bangalore.

He added, "The last few months have been very difficult for us gym owners and fitness instructors. We are very grateful to the government for allowing us to re-open. 

We are going to be very cautious when we open. Even before this COVID-19 pandemic, we used to sanitise all the equipment before and after every use so hopefully, this won't be too difficult for us. We are getting rid of the air conditioners to allow cross ventilation and open the space a little more."

According to Chandu Gowda, an actor and frequenter of the gym, working out at home was not the same as working out in the gym with the proper equipment.

"I'm very glad that I get to come back and work out as I used to before this lockdown. For an actor, working out is extremely important, not just for my physical health but also mental health. 

Doing exercises at home is never as good as exercising in a space dedicated to one purpose. I hope other members of the gym follow the rules and regulations religiously," Gowda said.

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