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DOLE Warns the Public Against Fake DOLE Employees
Fake DOLE Employees -min (1)

DOLE Warns the Public Against Fake DOLE Employees

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) advised job seekers planning to work abroad not to contact individuals claiming to be employees of the labor department and offering a local or international job post requiring a “reservation fee” to ensure their placement. They also advised job seekers not to inquire from pages even posing as an “official social media account” of DOLE.

DOLE issued the warning on Sunday (October 13, 2019) following a report they received by their Information and Publication Service (IPS) from a jobseeker named Mary claiming she discussed a job opportunity with a man who introduced himself as Arthur Villena, an “employee” working for DOLE. The job seeker said she received the details from an unverified Facebook page containing different job posts for both local and international positions.

The fake Facebook page called “DOLE Job Assistance-Local and Abroad” used DOLE’s official logo, their training documentation, and a photo of former Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz. Other dubious details in the page include a website not linked to DOLE, and a cellphone number which belongs to the scammer.

Victim Details Fake DOLE Employee’s Scheme

According to the victim, she called the cellphone number included in the various fake job posts created by page administrator As they discussed details about the offer, she was instructed to send a total of Php 1,000 “reservation fee” through a mobile money transfer service.

After sending the payment, the scammer told the victim to meet her at the DOLE Central Office in Intramuros, Manila, promising her to assist . However, the scammer never showed up at the central office, and he stopped answering calls. The jobseeker later asked for the labor department’s assistance regarding the incident.

The DOLE IPS coordinated with Facebook and reported the page in an attempt to shut it down and prevent other jobseekers from being victimized.  As of this writing, the page ceased posting job offers while various Facebook users left negative reviews and recommendations to warn the public of their activities.

DOLE says they have already encountered a lot of social media accounts and pages posing as the labor department or the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to lure job seekers unwittingly by illegally recruiting, scamming, and extorting money from them. They later encouraged job seekers, to visit the official websites of DOLE, the government-based job portal dubbed PhilJobNet, and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

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