British Embassy Cautions Bahrain People Against Fake Job E-mails

The Embassy of Britain on January 20, 2009 warned people in Bahrain not to fall victim to fraudulent firms representing the embassy and offering employment.

The Embassy said that phishers' latest trick is to send an e-mail that appears to arrive from the embassy's e-mail address while using the British ambassador's name.

According to a statement from the British Embassy published by GULF Daily News on January 21, 2009, the Embassy has been aware for some time that a number of companies were posing to be agents of the British Embassy. These companies were hiring nationals with visas to give them work in various industries in the United Kingdom.

The Embassy also stated that these companies were not connected with the Embassy in any manner although they claimed to be its representatives. In fact, majority of these advertisements was not real and people must not make any payments to such companies in the hope of getting employment in them.

The Embassy further informed users receiving the fraudulent e-mails that the authentic UK firms are registered and their status could be checked at www.companieshouse.gov.uk. In addition, anyone who is approached with a job in the UK should directly call the firm or verify their address from www.upmystreet.com.uk.

According to the Embassy, authentic government openings in the UK are advertised on the official government websites such as www.careers-civilservice.gov.uk inside the UK or http://ukinbahrain.fco.gov.uk in Bahrain.

Security experts said that several fraudulent attempts, especially over the Internet were currently floating, spoofing the UK connection and targeting anyone.

In fact, scam artists design new tricks to phish netizens off their information and money on a regular basis. The British Embassy scam is the most recent and most common in the wake of the global recession. Thus, it is advised that people establish no connection with such fake recruiters, rather erase their e-mails immediately.

Earlier in December 2008, the Philippine Embassy cautioned Filipinos about bogus job postings offered through fake e-mails. In those e-mails, online scammers had similarly taken advantage of the world financial crunch.

Related article: British Telecommunications Introduces New anti-spam System

» SPAMfighter News - 2/6/2009