This Article is From Feb 02, 2011

MBA students targetted with fake job offer e-mails

Pune: If you are an MBA student, be careful the next time you get a job offer by email. It might be a fake offer designed to lighten your pocket.

Bogus offer letters from reputed Indian companies are landing in the inboxes of MBA students in the city. More than a dozen of MBA students from Sinhagad Institute have got such fake mails from companies like Tata Motors, Maruti, Videocon among others.

The fake offer letters have the company logos mentioning fake names of persons claiming to be head of the HR department. The letters also claim to have selected the resume online and arranging the interviews on Feb 5, 2011.

Speaking to MiD-DAY, Priya Mehta (name changed), one of the student from Sinhagad Institute said, "I received an fake email on Jan 20 claiming to be from Tata Motors and saying that I have been short listed for a particular job. I was very excited for a moment and told my dad about the offer. Since the letter said that I needed to deposit Rs 8,550 as security amount, my father suspected foul play and started inquiring with some relatives employed in the company."

She then called the number given in the email. "A man answered the call and told me to pay the amount in some bank account in a few hours. We also forwarded the received mails to the company officers and after enquiry, the officials confirmed to us that the emails being sent were fake and to not trust them. This happened with many of my friends who had received fake offer letters with the names of companies like Videocon, Maruti among others," she said.  

Now, most of the companies have put up a disclaimer on their respective websites appealing students to avoid falling prey to such fraudsters. Tata Motors has specifically stated in their disclaimer that no fees or facilitation charges in lieu of employment are charged by the company. When contacted, the Sinhagad Institute college authorities were not available for comments.

Cyber security expert Sagar Rahurkar said, "The least the students can do is to check the websites of the concerned companies before reacting to any kind of mails that are coming to their inbox. Verify whether there are job openings in the company and do not blindly deposit cash amounts in any bank accounts."
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