Pretoria - Members of the public have been warned to be on the lookout for bogus 'placement agents' or so-called companies that claim to offer employment to job seekers and later claim a fee for placement.
According to the Department of Labour, the scam is seemingly spreading with the scammers taking advantage of the biting unemployment in the country.
Chief Director of Collective Bargaining at the department, Thembinkosi Mkalipi, said no prospective employer can demand payment for a job offered.
"The department wishes to point out that in some instances, these placement agents claim to be representing companies and when their credentials are verified with the said companies, they claim they do not know of them," Mkalipi said.
He advised members of the public who encounter requests for money in exchange for a job to contact their closest Labour Centre offices and lay a complaint.
"Nowhere in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act is provision for a job seeker to pay before being offered a job."
Some of the scammers have brazenly gone to the department's offices requesting to be urgently furnished with its job seekers database. In some instances they have used the media, especially radio stations, to peddle their lies.
Office workers have been warned to be vigilant of the so-called 'employers' or agents asking for the department's database urgently.
The department uses its own Employment Services System of South Africa (ESSA), an initiative it uses to drive job creation. ESSA is a system that links job seekers with potential employers and is available at all Labour Centers across the country for free.
