Thailand warns against online recruitment scams

Thailand is struggling to tackle a rise in online recruitment scams, with many appearing on Facebook (Illustrative photo: Pixabay)

Thailand is struggling to tackle a rise in online recruitment scams, with many appearing on Facebook, a senior official said on May 19.

Head of the Department of Employment (DOE) Suchat Pornchaiwiseskul said there had been more than 1,500 complaints in the past three years about overseas job postings, involving payments to recruiters of more than 100 million baht (3.14 million USD).

The method of recruiting people to work overseas had shifted from using agents to approach job seekers to using online advertising through social media such as Facebook and message app Line.

Wirawan Mosby, an activist who works with the government's anti-human trafficking task force, said in many cases, jobseekers are tricked into sending a "processing fee" to agents promising well-paid jobs abroad.

These end up being money scams where the so-called recruiters don't show up at the airport and block the job seekers on social media, while some few cases involve human trafficking.

More than 133,000 Thais work overseas as unskilled labourers, waiters and waitresses, massage therapists, agricultural workers and factory workers mostly in Asia.

The Thai government said it had taken legal action against more than 800 fake recruitment agents in the past three years.

Twelve of the 130 recruitment agencies registered with the government had their licences temporarily revoked and the DOE also took legal action against 881 individuals./.

VNA