Interview scam

Jaco70

My son is in his final year at Uni, doing a degree in Finance & Accounting.
He has been advised to start applying for jobs well in advance of graduation, and he has done this over and over again. He has had some rejections and some positive replies, leading to the next stage. We are confident that his attitude, in applying for lots of jobs, will bear fruit in the end.
However, last week he had an online interview about a job in London. He couldn't actually remember applying, and the interview was with a recruitment agency. He felt it went very well.
Today he has been told he requires a certificate (I'm not sure what exactly they called it), at a cost of £ 1000.
Even he can see this is a scam, and is accepting of it, but this is something we weren't aware of. 
Does anyone else have experience of this?

El_Torro

Not something I've come across, though seeing as it's £1,000 it does appear to be an obvious scam. If it was £50 then you could argue it's a recruitment agency wanting someone else to pay for their admin. £1,000 means they're trying their luck on whoever they can catch. 

Best of luck to your son. I remember the days of needing experience to get a job but nobody wanting to give me a job because I didn't have experience. Challenging times. 

Brie

Any recruitment agency (assuming it actually is one) that tries to charge for their services should be avoided.  Agencies make their money on commission from the employers.  That there's suddenly a big charge for something that was not seen as a requirement in the ad (assuming there was one) is a sign that things are not right.  If son needed  whatever certificate as soon as the recruiter knew he didn't have one they should have said "sorry, we can't proceed without this.  Come back when you've got it".   

Wyndham

Does anyone else have experience of this?

Not exactly - but maybe a bit similar. I used to deal with admissions for a University. For many students from overseas, we would ask for was proof of English Language profiency. The most common way to show this was through an English Language test. The test companies are legitimate, but as part of my training I saw quite a few fake certificates. Some were very good fakes. While some were done by the prospective students themselves, I know that there was (and most probably still is) a group of dodgy companies who would produce them. For some of these, the potential student was not even be aware of what was happening, and would just have been charged what they thought was a fee to help them make the application.

There are quite a companies like this out there. Best to avoid if you can - thought it's not always easy to see them. Your son has done the right thing to withdraw. I hope he gets a fantastic opportunity soon.

DullGreyGuy

Jaco70 said:

However, last week he had an online interview about a job in London. He couldn't actually remember applying, and the interview was with a recruitment agency. He felt it went very well.
Today he has been told he requires a certificate (I'm not sure what exactly they called it), at a cost of £ 1000.
Even he can see this is a scam, and is accepting of it, but this is something we weren't aware of. 
Does anyone else have experience of this?

There are various companies that offer "services" to those in the process of applying for new jobs. I got caught by one several years ago. I've lost how contact was first made but I was under the impression they were a regular recruitment agency, unusually but not unique they suggest a face to face discussion and back in those days I would bend to agencies requests (these days Ill still do face to face but its at a place of my convenience not their offices). 

Well I went, discussion like it was going to be for a role, though more detail than an agency would normally go into and then it changed. Big sales pitch from them for £1,500 for them to rewrite my CV, £2,000/year for access to the "unadvertised job market database" with a big thing that 75% of jobs are never advertised and go to the hiring managers network and by paying them you become part of everyone's network. Politely declined, did take a few tips from them on the CV

robatwork

Could you scan and post the letter/quote/demand for the certificate? Redact his details of course. But not the agency, let's all see who it is

Exodi

Binge watching scam documentaries is my guilty pleasure, and I've seen a few about scam recruiters.

As you say, requiring an upfront fee for X (a certificate in your case, but I've also seen it requested for uniform/tools/etc). Usually it's done alongside almost a guarantee that the job is theirs if they pay the fee.

Unfortunately, just like romance scammers or rental scammers, recruitment scammers exploit the fact that desperate people are willing to take on more risk (not saying your son is desperate).

KittenChops

Jaco70 said:

My son is in his final year at Uni, doing a degree in Finance & Accounting.
He has been advised to start applying for jobs well in advance of graduation, and he has done this over and over again. He has had some rejections and some positive replies, leading to the next stage. We are confident that his attitude, in applying for lots of jobs, will bear fruit in the end.
However, last week he had an online interview about a job in London. He couldn't actually remember applying, and the interview was with a recruitment agency. He felt it went very well.
Today he has been told he requires a certificate (I'm not sure what exactly they called it), at a cost of £ 1000.
Even he can see this is a scam, and is accepting of it, but this is something we weren't aware of. 
Does anyone else have experience of this?

Assuming this is a scam (and from what you've said, it sounds like one) - did he give them any personal details e.g. a copy of passport etc?

Marcon

Jaco70 said:

he had an online interview about a job in London.
 He couldn't actually remember applying, 
Today he has been told he requires a certificate (I'm not sure what exactly they called it), at a cost of £ 1000.


Does anyone else have experience of this?

A lot of people, judging by the endless reports in the media about this sort of thing. The more publicity the better - there are still far too many people falling for it, especially those who are desperate for work.

If he's not yet done so, I suggest he tells his university careers office and gives them full details.

Jaco70

Marcon said:

Jaco70 said:

he had an online interview about a job in London.
 He couldn't actually remember applying, 
Today he has been told he requires a certificate (I'm not sure what exactly they called it), at a cost of £ 1000.


Does anyone else have experience of this?

A lot of people, judging by the endless reports in the media about this sort of thing. The more publicity the better - there are still far too many people falling for it, especially those who are desperate for work.

If he's not yet done so, I suggest he tells his university careers office and gives them full details.

I don’t know if he’s informed the Uni, and I hadn’t thought to suggest it, but I will now. Thanks 

Jaco70

KittenChops said:

Jaco70 said:

My son is in his final year at Uni, doing a degree in Finance & Accounting.
He has been advised to start applying for jobs well in advance of graduation, and he has done this over and over again. He has had some rejections and some positive replies, leading to the next stage. We are confident that his attitude, in applying for lots of jobs, will bear fruit in the end.
However, last week he had an online interview about a job in London. He couldn't actually remember applying, and the interview was with a recruitment agency. He felt it went very well.
Today he has been told he requires a certificate (I'm not sure what exactly they called it), at a cost of £ 1000.
Even he can see this is a scam, and is accepting of it, but this is something we weren't aware of. 
Does anyone else have experience of this?

Assuming this is a scam (and from what you've said, it sounds like one) - did he give them any personal details e.g. a copy of passport etc?

Pretty sure he didn’t hand anything over, but I’ll check.