The labor department cautioned Filipinos aspiring to work overseas to be wary of spurious job offers online.
This was after the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Madrid, Spain received a request to verify an online job offer for a fruit farm cashier position in the country with a salary of 3,000 or 6,000 Euros.
With numerous job offers proliferating in social media, POLO Madrid Labor Attaché Joan Lourdes Lavilla advised job seekers to be careful in entertaining ‘too good to be true’ job opportunities abroad.
“We advise jobseekers to be very cautious. Scammers use names of legitimate companies and when you look at the job offer, it is usually too good to be true. They also give mobile numbers only. One tip is to check their given address using Google maps because sometimes there is no actual structure or company,” the Labor Attaché in a virtual briefing on Friday (Oct. 29) said.
She also said that another indication of a scam is when an applicant is being required to send out money to an individual through a remittance center.
“What our kababayan did was right. She checked with us first before grabbing the ‘job opportunity’,” she added.
Overseas job seekers may visit the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration’s website at https://www.poea.gov.ph/ to verify the legitimacy of job offers.
Meanwhile, Lavilla informed that with the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in Spain, more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are now back to work. She also shared that Spanish employers prefer Filipino workers because of their capacity to speak and understand the English language.
OFWs in POLO Madrid’s jurisdiction, which includes Spain, Andorra, France, Portugal, and Monaco, are composed of household service workers; hotel and restaurant staff; and professionals like Information Technology personnel, researchers, managers, and nurses. (DOLE) – bny
