Modus Operandi: First is the sweet talk, Second is the promise of direct hiring to Australia or elsewhere and Third is to get your money and... poof!
If you get into situations like the ones mentioned above, chances are you're in line to fill up the pockets of unscrupulous individuals at Intertech8888. Read on to find out more about the workings behind one of Cebu's bogus recruitment scams.
The high hopes of having the chance to work abroad for a small fee (15,000 Php to be exact) minus all the recruitment hassles and security measures set by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) landed my wife and some friends in jeopardy as they fell victim to the sweet tongue of Kirby Silva, owner and CEO of the controversial BPO firm- Intertech8888 that is based in Minglanilla, Cebu who promised them quick employment as "factory workers" for various businesses in Australia.
Just to appease my curiosity and witness the intriguing process, I tagged along during their orientation seminar which was surprisingly set at a residential address and not in the usual corporate conference room.
If I remembered things correctly, it was a certain Evan Ortega who ushered us in on the sweet spots with props ranging from photos of applicants they've managed to send abroad and of course, also their supposed "goody-goody" testimonials too to entice everyone who were present there to set their horses rolling and squeeze the juice of 15, 000 Php out of us- which he said was set at 10,000 Php to cover the placement fee and 5,000 Php for the assessment fee with which we were instructed to anytime when we're "ready" to pay to our coordinators or at the supposed office of Intertech at Springwood, Upper Tulay, Minglanilla, Cebu.
After hearing everything and after doing some background check about the company and certain key personas online (which to my surprise and suspicion is there isn't a single impression about them in sites, blogs and forums online- and could only mean one thing. It's all a SCAM.) I pointed out what i found out to my wife and advised her not to go ahead but my pleas only fell on deaf ears as she only replied that she and the rest of our friends are all determined to take the risk and is pushing through with the deal...
Making the payment and closing the deal
Much like signing a contract with the devil, they received a call from a certain coordinator with the name of Thelma Beniga who then scheduled a meetup with them at Mc Donald's Jones Branch to get their payments, which they abruptly complied and were given in turn with Official Receipts (confirming my worries) that do not bear a Tax Identification Number (TIN.)
They were then instructed to wait for a few weeks or months for the email which will guide them to their batch and company of assignment, which i later learned that my wife received in just a couple of days and my how fast! and that they will all go on the same batch for a chocolate confectionery known as SCALZO Foods based in Perth, Australia.
Duped to sign a waiver that obviously screams Intertech8888 is only guiding them and is "hand washing" from all its responsibilities
Last weekend, my wife got a call that Kirby is asking them to go to her house at a remote part of Minglanilla to settle everything and after seeing through her ordeal, I decided that i should butt in and that we go there to get a refund for all that she paid for. We met up with a friend who's also facing the same dilemma and like us, wants to get a refund so we proceeded right away to find Kirby's place.
What greeted us in the venue were hundreds of people who were also lining up to meet up with Kirby but were only told that they can only get in if they'd sign the waiver form of which after reading, I can clearly define that the company is now changing its terms and that now it is saying that it is merely guiding its recruits (a typical tactic used by scammers to get themselves out of trouble.)
Smelling the fish in the form, i told my wife and some friends who were there at the venue to not sign the waiver and since it was already late we opted to just go home and wait for updates from the others just in case everyone agrees to file a formal complaint or simply just settle in on the refund and forget the whole deal.
I on the other hand, opted to write about our experience with this company and disseminate it online to warn others who, like my wife and friends may fall for their traps and tactics in the future and for various government agencies looking into this kind of employment strategies to be aware of.
As of this writing, we still haven't received any updates from Intertech8888 and lesson learned, everything is going down the drain....
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