MADAGASCAR: Thousands of Madagascans fear they may have fallen foul of scam offering jobs overseas

Record ID: 454668

  • Title: MADAGASCAR: Thousands of Madagascans fear they may have fallen foul of scam offering jobs overseas
  • Date: 22nd September 2007
  • Summary: STREET SCENE
  • Embargoed: 7th October 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Madagascar
  • Country: Madagascar
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Employment
  • Reuters ID: LVA6HS9GIFLDEXR72XXF9HUG7G3Y
  • Story Text: Thousands of people in Madagascar have lost money applying for jobs with a textile company in the Bahamas that may never have existed.
    In August a man who said he represented a company in the Bahamas called West Palm Textiles and Garments began advertising the opportunity of higher wages and better working conditions in the Bahamas.
    Malagasy people were asked to pay between 100 and 300 US dollars each for application fees, passports and vaccinations. The Malagasy government says 27,000 people sent applications. 3,987 of these were asked to pay fees which they were told would be refunded upon their arrival in the Bahamas.
    The volume of people applying for passports raised government's concerns. Laureat Rasolofoniainarision, Secretary General at the Ministry of Work said that his Ministry initiated an investigation to see if the opportunity was authentic. He said they found the company did not exist, suggesting the operation was a scam.
    "After verification with our embassy in Washington, they discovered with the help of the government of the Bahamas, that no company by the name of West Palm Textiles and Garments was operating in the Bahamas," said Rasolofoniainarison.
    The former french colony has high levels of unemployment. The World Bank estimates that 70 percent of the population live on less than a dollar a day. Many people see the opportunity to work abroad as a way to a better life for themselves and a chance to send valuable remittances to their families.
    Lucie Raharinirina, works as a cook in Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital. The single mother of three had already made arrangements for a relative to take care of her children while she took up a position with West Palm. The pledge of higher wages meant she would manage to send money home.
    Like many of the 27,000 people who sent in applications, the 36-year-old only heard this week through the local press that West Palm does not exists.
    "The first time I heard about the opportunity I was really excited. It's not easy to get a job here and I want the chance to go abroad. I intended to do things differently this time. We paid a guarantee for vaccines, travel documents and things like that. I didn't know what to believe, we were meant to be leaving at the end of September and then I heard on the news that there was a problem," said Raharinirina.
    There may be a positive result in this instance, however.
    Police managed to arrest a Steeve Turmell, a Mauritian national claiming to represent a Mexico based recruitment company hired by the company in the Bahamas to recruit workers.
    Police said that application fees were sent directly into Turmell's bank account. They also confirmed that none of this money had left the country.
    Speaking after his arrest, Turmell said that all the money would be refunded.
    "Yesterday afternoon we have been to the bank, and we have arranged with the banker, so that in a couple of weeks we are going to make the total reimbursement," said Turmell.
    Though promises of a full refund are welcome, this is little comfort to the many who left their jobs, or sold possessions.
    "In fact there has been a lot of social disruption. There is a lot. There have been divorces, people have sold their possessions and work tools, and there are also people who have left their jobs. So now, after this Bahamas problem, we now have to deal with all of this," explained Raolofoniainarison.
    Turmell denied any intention of scamming Madagascans.
    "I don't know, I don't know really if West Palm exists or not. If West Palm exists we have been foolish to one another because of not exchanging well correspondence, between Gateway and myself. If West Palm doesn't exist really I'm very sorry."
    The vast Indian Ocean Island, rich in mineral resources, is slowly recovering from decades of stagnation and isolation. The country was ranked 143 out of 177 on the United Nations Human Development Index last year.
    Scams preying on the poorest of the world's poor are not unusual. Many involve offers of work in rich countries, with respondents ending up as slave labourers or prostitutes, after paying thousands of US dollars to those exploiting them.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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