POEA Warns vs Cruise Ship Recruitment Scam

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) warned jobseekers against emails offering supposed jobs in international cruise ships.

The warning was issued after the agency received an email informing it that the recipient was informed that he/she is being “shortlisted to become a Cruise group crew here in Ontario Toronto, Canada.”

In an advisory, the POEA said Princess Cruise Ship Company, the purported employer, offers a monthly salary of USD 3,500 and USD 300 allowance, with free food and accommodation and medical insurance.

Aside from these benefits, it also offers free visa and work permit.

However, the applicant is required to send USD 350 to the company’s account officer through a remittance company. Those who received the email were told to send payment to a certain Kelvin Jacob Sloan of Maple Grove, Minnesota, USA.

It noted that the sender used the email addresses princess_cruise17@yahoo.com and princess_cruise17@yahoo.com, which according to the POEA, is a proof that the job offer is a scam.

Aside from the spurious email addresses, the agency also identified the following signs that the job offer is a scam:

1. The offer seems too good to be true. You are offered a job that you probably never applied for, with high salaries and a lot of benefits;

2. Grammatical errors. An email from large company should be free of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes;

3. Requests for fees. Scammers always ask for advance payments supposedly for documentation or processing fees;

4. Free email domains. Scammers will not spend on paid email address and use free email services like hotmail, aim, yahoo or gmail;

5. Suspicious or no addresses. If there is no physical address, you are being scammed. If there is a physical address, check it out using google and see if it’s a real address;

6. Untraceable payment method. The scammer’s most preferred payment method is through remittance companies such as Western Union. Don’t pay anyone advance fees by any means if you have the slightest suspicion it is a scam; and

7. Pressure. Scammers will often put pressure on their victims and urge them to pay immediately or lose the opportunity.

At the same time, the POEA urged jobseekers to be aware of the warning signs and heed them to avoid being the victim of a scam. (PNA)/FGP