Job hunters duped by fake Telkom staff

JAKARTA (JP): At least eight people have been cheated by a group of unidentified men who collected money from them after promising them jobs at state telecommunications firm Telkom, an official said Saturday.

The head of the human resources development department of Telkom's Jakarta regional office, Joko Triwibowo, quoted the victims as saying that the group escorted them to the Telkom office building on Jl. Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta.

"In the beginning, the men introduced themselves to the victims as Telkom personnel, and said they were recruiting new employees," Triwibowo said in a statement.

After going through their routine, the men asked each of the victims for Rp 200,000 for their services.

Shortly after the victims agreed to the deal, he said, the men took them by public bus to Telkom's Jakarta head office.

Upon arrival at the building, the men asked their victims to wait in the lobby while they processed their job applications, Triwibowo said.

After waiting for hours, the victims never saw the men again and finally filed complaints with Telkom.

Triwibowo warned people about the fraud, saying that Telkom has transparent procedures for personnel recruitment and no job applicants are asked to pay anything. (bsr)