Fake Job advert
More than a thousand youths were on Wednesday left distraught after what they thought was a legit company recruitment turned out to be a scam.
Police in Nairobi have launched investigations into a syndicate where unemployed youths were conned by fraudsters masquerading as Solar Africa Energy-Kenya which was seeking to recruit drivers, electricians and solar panel distributors.
Some of the victims who had traveled from as far as Lamu, Turkana, Kisii and other regions to come to a city hotel for a three-day training were left shocked after realising the said company did not exists.
According to the fake advert, Solar Africa Energy was recruiting 82 drivers, 96 electricians and 192 solar panel distributors and all the applicants had to part with Sh1,000 as application fee .
The company masquerading as Solar Energy Africa does not have an official website or any official social media accounts and that a company named Solar Africa does exist, and is based in South Africa.
The recruits who were shortlisted were to be hosted at Emory Hotel in Kileleshwa before being dispatched to their work stations.
A few months ago, an ad shared on social media indicated that fake company was recruiting and those who applied would be interviewed online before being given a date on when to converge at the hotel.
Richard Manguso, the Head of Security at the hotel, said they had been receiving many people claiming that they were there for a meeting with the said company.
But according to the hotel, no company with such a name had booked there.
Kilimani OCPD Lucas Ogara confirmed the incident and said they had launched investigations.
“We are investigating the source of this information because up to now the numbers which were given as contact are not going through,” he said.
There has been a rise in fraudulent job scams in the country as fraudsters ride on the internet wave and the desperation of the many youths who are unemployed.
On October 2, 2019, Lighting Africa posted an alert on its official Twitter account warning job seekers about Solar Africa Energy posting false jobs on its behalf.
Lighting Africa also indicated that all its jobs and tenders are posted through the Ministry of Energy.
International Finance Corporation (“IFC”) and The INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT (“World Bank”) (jointly the ”World Bank Group”) have been made aware that various individuals or organizations are posting false job advertisements in the media pic.twitter.com/f48voUBooJ
— Lighting Africa (@lightingafrica) October 16, 2019
