THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has warned the public against an individual posing as an employee of the department and conducting recruitment activities via social media.
The alert was issued following a report received by the DOLE Information and Publication Service (IPS) from a jobseeker named Mary, who claimed to have discussed a local job opportunity with a certain Arthur Villena.
Mary said she got the details from a supposed "DOLE Job Assistance-Local and Abroad" Facebook page bearing various posts for interested applicants for deployment in Canada, Australia, Singapore, London, as well as local jobs for Calabarzon and Mimaropa as nurses, caregiver, managers, restaurant staff, and others.
The page also uses the official logo of DOLE, posting pictures of trainings, and a photo of former Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.
Eager to grab a job and secure a slot, Mary called the number 0935-743-0054 posted on the page and was instructed to send P1,000 for the reservation fee through Smart Padala mobile money transfer.
After sending the payment, the alleged Villena said he will meet with Mary at the DOLE Central Office in Intramuros, Manila to assist her for the job application.
However, upon arriving at the DOLE, no one showed up and the scammer no longer answered the phone.
This prompted Mary to seek assistance and report the incident to the DOLE.
Upon verification, DOLE said there is no Arthur Villena on the official roster of employees of the department.
The DOLE IPS has since reported the Facebook page and coordinated with the management of Facebook to shut down the account to prevent job seekers from being victimized.
"We have encountered numerous social media accounts and pages, which publishes unauthorized local and overseas job vacancies using the logos of the DOLE and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to illegally recruit, scam, and extort money from job seekers," the department said in a statement. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)