MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) on Sunday warned jobseekers against falling prey to fake social media pages and accounts offering local and overseas job vacancies.
In a statement, the Dole said it had encountered numerous social media accounts and pages, which publish unauthorized local and overseas job vacancies using the logos of the Dole and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to illegally recruit, scam and extort money from jobseekers.
It encouraged jobseekers to visit the official website of the Dole at www.dole.gov.ph, the PhilJobNet at www.philjobnet.gov.ph for local job posting and of the POEA at www.poea.gov.ph for overseas job orders, and verify licensed and accredited recruitment agencies in the country.
Dole renewed its warning following a report received by its Information and Publication Service from a jobseeker named “Mary” who claimed to have discussed a local job opportunity with a certain Arthur Villena allegedly working at the labor department.
Mary claimed she got the details from a supposed “Dole Job Assistance-Local and Abroad” Facebook page bearing various posts for interested applicants for deployment in Canada, Australia, Singapore and London.
The page also uses the official logo of the Dole, posting pictures of training and a photo of former Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.
Eager to get a job and secure a slot, Mary called the number 0935-743-0054 posted on the page and sent P1,000 for reservation fee as instructed through a mobile money transfer.
After sending the payment, Mary was told to meet Arthur at the Dole central office in Intramuros, Manila, to assist her in the job application.
However, upon arriving at the Dole, no one showed up and the scammer no longer answered Mary’s calls.
This prompted Mary to report the incident to the Dole.
Upon verification, no Arthur Villena appeared on the official roster of Dole employees and the said Facebook page was found to be a fake account.