Two men accused of duping foreigners searching for jobs

Two Singaporeans allegedly duped hundreds of foreigners into paying a "plethora of fees" to secure jobs that did not exist, a district court heard yesterday.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Tan told the court that Clarence Lim Jun Yao, 30, and Terry Tan-Soo I-Hse, 40, were the directors and sole shareholders of three firms: Lim headed Asia Job Mart and UUBR International while Tan-Soo headed Asia Recruit (AR).

DPP Tan did not disclose the number of foreign job seekers and the total amount involved. Each man is now on trial on three counts of carrying out the business of the firms for fraudulent purposes.

The DPP told District Judge John Ng that the two men perpetrated a "massive, audacious and cruel fraud" against hundreds of foreigners searching for jobs in Singapore.

"The accused placed hundreds of fraudulent ads on platforms such as The Straits Times' online jobs portal, falsely promising the availability of immediate job vacancies, for all nationalities, in numerous industries and positions," he said.

"Using the reach of these platforms, they baited and ensnared victim after victim, whom they then deceived into paying a plethora of fees, including 'administrative', 'reservation' and 'training' - in order to secure non-existent jobs."

The court heard that AR allegedly masqueraded as an employment agency. DPP Tan said: "When its victims came to it in hopes of finding a job, AR purported to be able to assist them with doing so, and charged them a fee. A short while later, AR would contact the victim, informing that it had been able to secure a job for him or her."

The court heard that in many cases, the purported employer was Asia Job Mart, but it had no genuine intention to hire the job seekers.

In other instances, job seekers who approached AR were allegedly told to fork out cash, usually up to $390, to have their resumes purportedly uploaded onto a portal run by Asia Job Mart for employers to view.UUBR would then allegedly contact the job seeker, purporting to be interested in hiring him.

DPP Tan said: "The job seeker would be invited to attend an 'interview' which, unknown to him or her, was little more than a charade, following which the job seeker would be offered employment at UUBR. The job seeker would then be asked to pay a fee of $180, either as a 'reservation fee' or something similar.

"In addition, the job seeker was required to attend a compulsory 'training' session, for which the job seeker was asked to pay either $650 or $850. In reality, UUBR had no genuine business, no genuine revenues and no genuine intention to hire these job seekers."

Lim and Tan-Soo are out on bail of $110,000 each. The trial resumes today.