DOLE warns vs fake job offers in Yukon, Canada

by Robie de Guzman, 26 Feb 2020

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has warned the public against bogus job offers abroad following reports received by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office about a fraudulent scheme that lures Filipinos to work in Yukon Territory in Canada.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said that based on information they received, the scammer uses the name of a website of a legitimate Yukon Human Resources practitioner to dupe their unsuspecting victims.

The victims are then asked to pay US$440 in exchange for non-existent jobs.

The Labor chief said the scammers took advantage of DOLE’s announcement in September 2019 on the employment opportunities in various industries in Yukon.

It was in August last year when Bello and Minister Ranj Pillai signed a joint Communique to establish cooperation on the recruitment of Filipino workers to Yukon.

After the signing, a proposed memorandum of understanding was forwarded to Yukon, which aims to establish a system for the recruitment process in the deployment of Filipinos through a Nominee program under a government-to-government arrangement.

“This government to government agreement shall validate the existence of guaranteed employment offers. Hence, we are warning the public to be very cautious of this scam that seemingly capitalizes on the still-to-be finalized labor agreement between the Philippines and Yukon,” Bello said.

He, however, clarified that a bilateral labor pact has yet to be signed between the two parties.

“Based on the report by our POLO Vancouver, the Yukon government is still studying the memorandum of understanding, and DOLE will provide an update on this undertaking,” Bello said.

DOLE reiterated its advise to the public to visit the website of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (poea.gov.ph) to validate the authenticity of any job offers they receive.

He also urged jobseekers to report to the POEA via info@poea.gov.ph any suspicious job-related activities they encountered.