Labor export fraud is a growing problem again.

Many sophisticated tricks

The most recent labor export fraud case occurred in Nghi Hoa commune, Nghi Loc district, led by Tran Thi Thuy. The victims were Mr. Nguyen Van Chuong, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Luong and Mr. Nguyen Nhu Hoa, all of whom were relatives. The amount of money they were robbed of was up to billions of dong. Stemming from the need to work abroad, the victims went online to learn about labor export brokerage units and found a brokerage company directed by Tran Thi Thuy (from Hung Trung commune, Hung Nguyen district), with many forms of introduction and advertising very attractive services. Such as sending people quickly, success rate up to 100%; low brokerage and exit fees but getting light jobs such as painters, masons, welders in countries like England, Germany, Australia... with salaries up to 60 - 100 million dong/person/month...

Also because they believed the introduction and advertisement of that service, the above victims also introduced their family members and relatives to contact Tran Thi Thuy's company to find jobs. Typically, Mr. Nguyen Nhu Hoa in Nghi Hoa commune introduced 12 people including his sisters, siblings, aunts and uncles in his family to Thuy and was scammed out of a total of 1.8 billion VND.

Signs of labor export fraud are also hidden in many stories of insiders. Not long ago, in early July 2024, a woman named Nguyen Thi Minh residing in Dien Minh commune, Dien Chau district said: She paid 50 million VND as a fee for her child to go to Taiwan to a broker claiming to be from a reputable company in Hanoi, but after 1 year she has not received a response. "The important thing is that their office is still located in Vinh City. I have visited many times and met many workers who also came here to learn and make deposits, but I do not understand why until now our child and many others still cannot go" - Ms. Minh expressed her worry.

The wave of labor export fraud is not only widespread in the city and suburban districts but also appears in many mountainous areas. In June 2024, the family of Mrs. Dau Thi Que in Ke Mong hamlet, Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau district had to sell their last property and borrow more to have more than 200 million VND to redeem their son born in 1997 who was tricked into going to Myanmar to work. Along with Mrs. Que's son, there were 3 people in the same hamlet who were also tricked and the family had to manage to transfer enough money for their son to be released.

Ms. Que said: At first, the broker said that if we only paid 100 million VND, we would have the opportunity to get a job, with an income of up to 40 million VND/month, and the work was not too hard. However, when we arrived, my child and 3 people in the neighborhood realized that we had to do very hard outdoor work, were beaten, and did not get enough meals. If we wanted to go home, the workers had to pay a ransom of up to 200 million VND. "Although we were bitter because of the debt from the time we left the country and could not pay it back, the family had to sell the young acacia trees and save up 160 million VND and then borrow more from relatives to send to our child to go home," Ms. Que said.

After receiving reports from families in Ke Mong village, Quy Chau District Police presided over and coordinated with relevant units to successfully crack down on the case of "Organizing and brokering for others to flee abroad or stay abroad illegally", arresting Tran Quoc Viet (born in 1993), residing in Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau district. Through investigation, Viet confessed that he had established a brokerage company on various platforms, from which he approached workers and drew up a vision of going abroad to work with sky-high salaries, from which Viet collected billions of dong in brokerage fees. As a result, the workers who went to work through Viet's network could not bear the hard work and had to pay a huge ransom to return home.

Beware of "false advertising"

In the first 7 months of 2024, units, localities, and the Provincial Police have fought and arrested dozens of criminals related to fraud crimes, many of which were directly related to labor export fraud.

According to the report of the interdisciplinary delegation including the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Department of Culture and Sports, and the Nghe An Provincial Police: Currently, the situation of posting advertising signs that are not in line with the operational functions, leading to misunderstandings for workers, is widespread. Although they do not have the function of sending workers to work abroad, many companies have tricked workers into depositing money to go to markets such as Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Germany... to work, and then appropriated this money.

On the other hand, there is a situation where organizations and individuals do not have the function of sending workers to work abroad, but have used websites, such aswww.nhatban24h.vn;www.xuatkhaulaodong24h.com… to find workers in need. Professionally designed websites post a lot of information about job orders to work in "hot" markets to scam workers.

These businesses that do not have the function of providing services to send workers to work abroad also use personal information pages (Facebook, Zalo) to post a lot of information about activities in this field, such as images of seeing workers off at the airport, the process of workers working abroad, visa photos... to create prestige with workers.

Returning to the case of Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh in Dien Chau district and 5 other workers who simultaneously deposited 50 million VND/person to a brokerage company located in Vinh City. Ms. Minh said: Because we believed that many people had gone and the company also had an office and a business registration sign for labor export and study abroad services, we boldly paid the money. Unexpectedly, later we found out that this unit did not have the function of sending people to work abroad!

According to Mr. Vi Ngoc Quynh - Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, companies that disguise themselves as labor export brokers but do not have the function of sending people to work abroad often attract workers by displaying profiles and images of workers who have worked abroad and have a prosperous life after leaving the country, to build trust. After collecting the deposit, these companies can sell the profiles to competent units at high prices. Therefore, workers have to pay an additional intermediary fee, even though they were previously committed to only leaving the country at the listed price. If they cannot find a "bargain", they will delay the workers, and in some places, they will even take their deposits. People who have paid deposits do not know who to complain to while still receiving promises to leave the country in the next few months.

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People who want to work abroad need to go to the addresses of agencies and companies with full authority and licensed functions to get guidance and advice, to avoid being tempted by cheap prices and losing money and getting sick.

Mr. Vi Ngoc Quynh - Deputy Director of Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs