A conman has been convicted of allegedly posing as an employee of Zimbabwe’s First Family in order to falsely recruit candidates into working at a diamond mine in Angola.
The Herald reports that Philip Zinyemba has three accomplices – who are now on the run – and managed to dupe 12 jobseekers using the trick. They allegedly demanded Z$535 from each candidate in return for a visa, a plane ticket and a work permit.
Prosecutor Chogumaira claimed that it was Zinyemba’s express intention to trick, con and dupe desperate jobseekers purely for his own financial gain.
Zinyemba reportedly posed as a member of the First Family’s household, claiming that he needed to recruit experienced mining professionals into roles in the diamond mines.
In March, Recruitment Grapevine reported on a BBC sting which found that a recruitment fraudster was continuing to scam jobseekers.
John Phillips was brought to the attention of the authorities late last year after a BBC investigation found that candidates may have been conned out of money as part of a large-scale scam. Phillips allegedly charged job applicants ‘accreditation fees’ of £480 for roles that never existed.
Speaking exclusively to Recruitment Grapevine, Keith Rosser, Chair of Safer Jobs and a Member of Recruitment Grapevine’s Advisory Board, explained the significance of these scams, and the affect they have on candidates, and the industry at large.
“Safer Jobs first alerted the BBC to this scam early last year and worked with them on both their October and most recent investigation,” said Rosser.
“This is the most wide-spread job scam of its kind, with Safer Jobs seeing reports every month from jobseekers who have been defrauded through this. In the last two years, Safer Jobs has seen a 300% rise in job scams and this continues to grow as a major problem affecting the industry.”
