Dodgy job agencies take gullible for a ride

With illicit employment agencies providing easy money without much risk for those running them, they are mushrooming in Ho Chi Minh City.
Credulous job-seekers flock to them and often end up being cheated, Tuoi Tre discovered.
Your correspondent goes to 24h Co Ltd in Hoc Mon District pretending to be a student, and is told by a man in his fifties to apply to a coffee shop in District 12 or Hoc Mon.
From the job description, it appears like they are cafe oms (om meaning “hug” in Vietnamese, a euphemism for sexual services).
The man claims the job just entails talking to customers, only the clothes have to be revealing. But he does add that anything besides that will result in bigger tips.
“I have sent a lot of students to such places. They earn a lot of money and even send it back to help their family.”
When your correspondent rejects it, the man suggests other potentially “high-income” jobs at billiards, massage, and karaoke places and at VIP rooms at restaurants, also a euphemism for places offering sexual services.
Finally, he suggests a job as a waitress at a restaurant in District 1. But upon going there, Tuoi Tre is told there is no vacancy.
Your correspondent returns to 24h Co Ltd to demand a refund of the VND150,000 fee, but the man coolly says he can refer other jobs but not refund the money.
Tuoi Tre then goes to My Nga ESC (employment support center), apparently also owned by 24h ESC, and the fee this time is VND100,000.
A woman there says a salesperson’s job is available at an electronic supermarket at a basic salary of VND 2.5 million (US$125). But upon going to the given address, Tuoi Tre discovers there is no such supermarket there.
Tuoi Tre calls back and the woman has a completely different story to tell -- the supermarket is at another place and the salary is based on sales.
She too refuses to return the fee.
Ha, a victim, says dodgy job centers usually advertise themselves by offering stable jobs and high salaries.
They always demand a fee of anything between VND 80,000 and VND200,000, but warn it will not be returned in any circumstances.
The contract is valid for just 15 days during which period the center will introduce a maximum of six jobs.
The truth is, Ha says, the centers send candidates on a wild-goose chase that most give up and do not bother to ask for a refund.
“I wasted my money at Thoi Dai ESC, Go Vap District.”
Some centers even keep candidates’ ID cards or other important papers and demand money for returning them, as Pham Thi Cong of Can Tho discovered.
She was told about a job with a salary of VND2 million and asked to turn in her ID card.
When she asked for her card, the center demanded money to return it, and she had to seek the help of the local police.
Underground ESC everywhere
In just a one-kilometer stretch of National Highway 22 from An Suong to Nguyen Anh Thu crossroads in Districts 12 and Hoc Mon are 11 employment agencies.
Only three of them are licensed though two out of them work at an unauthorized location. All the others are illegal.
Many employment agencies can also be found on An Duong Vuong street in Districts 6 and Tan Binh and on the small street connecting the Phan Anh – AN Duong Duong – Tan Hoa Dong crossroads with An Duong Vuong, none of them licensed.
Tuoi Tre discovered that more and more are opening in the city’s outskirts, especially near bus stations, industrial parks, and free trade zones where newcomers to HCMC go looking for jobs.
Mostly from the countryside or still students, they have low awareness and desperately need jobs, making it easy for the job centers to fleece them.
Nguyen Thi Hong Phuong, chairwoman of the District 12 Sub-department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, says it is hard to eradicate illegal employment agencies.

Even if one is discovered and shut down, it just reappears in a different location or under a different name, she explains.

More stringent penalties are the only way to curb this menace, she says.

Tuoitrenews

Posted in: Society,Vietnam