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Job Scams on Facebook attract desperate South Africans

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Job Scams on Facebook attract desperate South Africans

A Facebook page offering employment within government departments continues to lure unsuspecting South African job-seekers.

Criminals often use fake ads to con unsuspecting and desperate job hunters in South Africa by charging “administration fees”, “upfront payments to secure employment” or asking for payment for “police clearance” checks. Desperate job-seekers continue to fall prey to online job scams.

Six months ago, Africa Check exposed the fake Facebook page called “Government Jobs Application Page”. However, the group continues to post many fake jobs and still has a following of more than 189,000. The page showed adverts for jobs in government departments such as home affairs, correctional services and the police service.

According to Facebook transparency records the page was created in August 2015 under the original name ‘Government Jobs, Learnership, Internships & Bursaries SA’. However its name has changed many times and “Although the page uses SA’s national coat of arms as a profile picture, it includes no links to any of the government’s official social media pages or websites,” Africa Check reported.

Between March and October 2020, fake job listings soared by 70%, according to SAFERjobs, a UK-based organisation that tracks employment fraud.

“Fraudulent websites rely on you making quick decisions based on too good to be true job offers and chasing the opportunity too quickly. Job searchers need to be cautious and take their time to avoid falling foul of these scams when job hunting," said spokesperson Bianca de Beer.

“These are examples of engagement bait and as users like, follow or share links back to the fraudulent entry the further the spreads.”

Source: TimesLIVE