Many victimised with 'jobs' offered through mobile phones
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 26 2017: Reports are pouring in about a new scam involving phone calls to eager youths from outside Manipur, promising jobs and the number of youths who went to take up the so called jobs only to be hugely disappointed with the reality of the 'jobs', with some youths even refusing to return home out of shame.

According to information received by The Sangai Express from a reliable source, the Cyber Crime unit of Manipur Police have started taking up necessary steps to combat the menace after it got wind of the scam.

The source pointed out that many youths of the State received phone calls from a group claiming to be from IFA Zone and some of them even went to check out the job offers.

Some of the youths have even returned after discovering the whole set up to be fraud, the source added.

Many victimised with 'jobs' offered through mobile phones

According to the source, some non-locals claiming to be from IFA Zone, Chandigarh began making phone calls to the target youths of the State (although it is not known where they got the phone numbers from).

The callers often promise lucrative jobs under two schemes, identified as Balloon and Fun.

Under the Balloon scheme, the aspiring candidate has to pay an advance of Rs 47,000.After getting employed, he/she will be paid a salary of Rs 15,000-17,000 .

Under the Fun scheme, the candidate has to pay Rs 8000 advance and after getting employed, he or she will be given a salary of Rs 7000-9000 .

The source informed that there have been many individuals who took the phone calls from the so called IFA Zone as genuine and sold their properties to go to Chandigarh in the hope of getting the promised jobs.

Many of them returned home after finding out that the entire set up has is a fraud while some of the victims have even refused to come back home due to fear of public ridicule and shame, the source added.

Most of the youths who were influenced by the phone calls from IFA Zone are youths desperate to find jobs, even if the job is outside the State.

However, one can easily see that the whole operation regarding the IFA Zone phone calls is a scam, if one checks on the internet, the source added.

The genuine IFA Zone describes itself as a company dealing exclusively in fashion and cosmetics and not a company which deals in job services.

According to the company's website, there are no plans to recruit new employees nor are there any vacancies in the company although there are reports of frauds using the company's name in social media sites to trap unassuming candidates/ targets.

The source conveyed that the youths who went to take part in the employment process based on phone calls, are given free training first.

The candidates are then made to purchase the said firm's products as a process to increase their (candidates) ; ranks.

They are also instructed/directed to recruit new candidates or youths, the source stated, adding that \ many of the youths abandoned the process after realising that the job they got was far different than what was promised.

The source also pointed out that the people of the State need to be wary of such fraudulent phone calls and at the same time, the State Government and the authority concerned need to look into the matter at the earliest.