October 15, 2018
Millions Stolen from Migrant Workers in Fake Job Scams
Fraudulent practices in the recruitment process for jobs in the United States have caused damage to communities across all of Mexico, from Chiapas to Baja California Sur. Scammers fabricate and present false or nonexistent job offers to people seeking employment under H-2A and H-2B visa programs. It is important to keep in mind that charging a recruitment fee for these programs, regardless of whether the job offer is real or not, is illegal under both Mexican and US law. This way, victims of fraud and their families fall into poverty and debt traps without ever obtaining work in the United States.
"Fake Jobs for Sale” was written using 140 cases of fraud documented and analyzed by CDM, which have impacted at least 6,500 people. Given the reach of fraudulent recruitment schemes, we believe that the actual number of people affected is much higher. Each one of the prospective workers affected in the cases documented paid an average of $9,300 pesos -- the equivalent of 3.5 months of a minimum wage salary in Mexico -- for a job that does not exist.
Fraudulent recruiters scam people using a variety of methods. Many collect a large recruitment fee from prospective workers before disappearing without a trace. Others organize town meetings to collect fees from the whole community. One of the most notable cases of fraud detailed in the report targeted people in the states of Guanajuato and Veracruz in 2017 through a Facebook advertisement.
The amount of people affected by fraudulent recruitment schemes is expected to rise. CDM has included recommendations for both the Mexican and U.S. governments in the report to emphasize the importance of strengthening protections for workers.
If you are a victim of recruitment fraud, do not hesitate to contact us. Call us from Mexico at 01-800-590-1773, or from the United States at 1-855-234-9699. Leaving a review of your recruiter here on Contratados.org can be helpful to other people searching for work, regardless of whether your experience was good or bad. We hope that the platform can help prevent future recruitment fraud.
To read the report, visit: https://cdmigrante.org/fake-jobs-for-sale/