“Fraudulent Job Practices in Indonesia: How Jobseekers are Scammed of Money”

Jakarta –

Netizens were shocked by a fraudulent act carried out by a girl by using the name PT Niramas Utama (INACO). The girl is said to have deceived at least 300 people by asking for a certain amount of money as a prerequisite for working at the company.

This is just one illustration, how difficult it is to obtain work in Indonesia, until there are those who are willing to spend to get a job. In fact, it is not uncommon for those who end up being deceived after paying in the hope of being accepted for work, but that hope is dashed and the money is lost.

The story above is certainly not the only one. detikcom had a chance to talk with one of the job applicants who had experience having to pay a certain amount of money as a prerequisite for working in a company.

The man who did not want to be named admitted that he had applied to work at a car spare parts factory in the Cikarang area, Bekasi, West Java. He was once asked for money worth Rp. 1 million to be able to become an employee at the company.

This man is a nomad from Surabaya who tried his luck by registering himself at the factory through one of his wife’s acquaintances. However, when he came to the factory to conduct an interview session, how surprised he was to find out that the process did not run like a normal interview.

“That was 2011. When we wanted to enter the factory, we were picked up by a person who already had a list of names to be interviewed. We couldn’t enter the factory, but were asked to go to a house. There, if I’m not mistaken, we were asked to fill out a form, in the end we were called one by one. Explained, we applied for a position in production, asked to pay Rp. 750 thousand,” he told detikcom, Friday (5/5/2023).

Hearing this explanation, he immediately asked about his certainty of being accepted at the factory. The person also indicated that there was no guarantee for that. It’s just that, the person emphasized that he would try to help him after the interview process took place.

“Then I asked, Rp. 750,000 for anything. He said it was only for conditions and if you don’t like it (paying) that’s fine. If you like it, later on the first day of payday there will be a Rp. 250,000 deductible because it turns out that the total that must be paid is actually Rp. 1 million, Rp. 250 thousand will follow,” he explained.

But at that time, this man from Surabaya did not have enough money. This did not turn out to be a problem. The person asked him to pay around Rp. 150,000 as collateral, or the term he used at that time as ‘stamp’ money.

“Incidentally, at sunset, I was allowed to pray. After the prayer, I immediately called a motorcycle taxi and asked to return from Jakarta to Surabaya,” he added.

Continued on the next page.

(dna/dna)