Finnish embassy warns Indians of fake job offers

The Finnish Embassy in New Delhi on Tuesday warned the Indian people of fake job offers and urged them not to become victims of financial fraud.

Many Indians have received job offers from Finland in return for a payment, which have turned out to be fraud, said the embassy in a press release.

The embassy received a large number of inquiries related to the authenticity of the job offer letters which some Indians have received.

“Please pay attention to the authenticity of any offer you receive and make sure you don’t become a victim of financial fraud,” said the embassy urging the people to carefully follow the embassy's instructions on how to identify fraudulent job offers.

Job offer scams are set up by private individuals, who make fake job offers to professionals aspiring to an international career.

By pretending to function as recruitment agents for Finnish companies, such individuals deceive professionals into believing that they have been offered a job in Finland.

For their services, the fake recruitment agents often charge a considerable amount of money.

The authority suggested to get information from the official website of the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) about how to apply a work permit to Finland.

People can find the full instructions on how to apply for a residence permit for work, including information about the fees on the website of Migri.

To avoid becoming a victim of a fraudulent job offer, people were urged to beware of the offer, if they receive it without making application.

If people have been asked to pay a large amount of money to receive a work permit, they have reason to be cautious as Finnish companies do not charge any fees for job offers.

When applying for a residence permit for work, the Finnish Immigration Service charges an application fee and the amount could be known from the website of the Finnish Immigration Service.

A recruitment agent can help to establish a contact with a company in Finland but cannot offer a work permit.

To receive a work permit, people must personally receive a specific job offer from a company in Finland and need to sign a contract with them.

After signing a contract, the applicant together with the company in Finland can apply for a work permit.

“The work permit application must be submitted personally. The agency cannot do it on your behalf,” said the embassy.

People can check online company information at The Business Information System.

For the purpose of contacting, people are urged to request a landline number and compare the area code with the location of the company.

Most genuine companies do not use Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, or similar types of free e-mail accounts, but have their own e-mail domains.

If anyone has fallen victim to a job scam, the person should immediately report the incident to the Indian police and the Embassy of Finland.