Prameet Kataria( name changed) is a disgruntled man. Just two week the 23-year-old job seeker from Faridabad was ecstatic when he received an employment offer from the Gurgaon- based auto major Maruti Suzuki. The letter titled Maruti Suzuki’s Direct Recruitment offer was issued in the name of Shinzo Nakanishi, CEO MD, Maruti Suzuki India.
The letter confirmed that Kataria had been shortlisted for a recruitment interview for the organization’s upcoming plants in Delhi, Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai. It stated that the interview would be conducted at the corporate office on March 21 March, 2012 at 11.30 AM. The offer letter with air ticket would be sent to him by courier before date of interview. But when Kataria saw the eye popping remuneration mentioned in the letter he felt his prayers had been answered. The Company was offering him a salary of Rs 62, 000 to Rs 200, 000 P.M. (+HRA + D.A + Conveyance and other Company benefits.) What more could he have asked for!
As exhilarated Kataria read on, the letter stated that he would have to make a cash deposit of Rs. 16,200/- in favour of an accountant of Maruti’s recruitment dept through any SBI in his home town. This, the letter said, was a refundable interview security fee. Rs 16,000 would be refunded and Rs 200 would be deducted as bank charges for funds deposit. The last date of making this deposit was March19 – March – 2012. Kataria was instructed to give the information after depositing the security amount to the company HRD handling direct recruitment via email.
A hopeful Kataria would do anything to seize this job opportunity that came knocking on his door. He promptly made the deposit and duly furnished the details of the payment. From then on he has been waiting impatiently for any further correspondence from Maruti’s HRD. But to no avail.
Kataria is not a lone case. There are many such gullible job aspirants who have been duped by a notorious gang which has been perpetrating phishing attacks in the name of large corporates.
The ominous trend is becoming a cause for concern for the masses and the companies involved. The menace has brought to the fore an alarming trend where perpetrators of cyber crime do not target the core process of the organization they rather attack the organization’s reputation and brand equity. Maruti Suzuki has fallen prey to such fraudulent practices aimed at exploiting the innocence and ambition of people.
The incident first occurred in 2010. As the number of cases began to swell, Maruti sought the help from police. The cops carried out a rigorous investigation into the matter and nabbed a Nigerian gang was spread across different parts of the country but operated mainly out of New Delhi and Mumbai. Some arrests were made and the police managed to trace the bank account which was being abused to perpetrate the crime. The police decoded the modus operandi of the gang. The cyber criminals used to open a bank account in the name of an illiterate villager and passed the account number as the number of the accountant of the company’s HRD. When the victim (candidate) deposited the money the amount was quickly withdrawn using an ATM card. Once police took action against the gang the incidents the fraud ceased on to catch on again after two years.
Once again such cases have been cropping up and innocent people are becoming victims of such frauds. Such incidents threaten to deal a sever blow to the organization’s brand equity. It has launched a slew of preventive measures. “We have published public notices in newspapers and are even leveraging the social media platform to spread awareness. Even on our website homepage we are carrying a warning relating to this fraud,” commented Rajesh Uppal, Executive Officer CIO, Maruti Suzuki India.
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