David Boyle and Kim Yuthana
Phnom Penh Post
A FRAUDULENT company that advertises fake jobs at luxury hotels in England, then charges prospective Cambodian employees thous-ands of dollars for travel documents, has been reported to police in the United Kingdom.
Tower Travels & Tour Management, which pretends to offer more than 100 different positions at the Hilton hotel in London and the Bailbrook House Hotel in Bath, charges job-seekers £1,368 (US$2,204) to purchase flights, provide insurance and arrange travel documents with the British High Commission.
Tracy Tennant, general manager of the Bailbrook House Hotel, said yesterday her company had no association with the firm, which posted the supposed job opportunities on the website of Cambodian recruitment agency CAMHR.
“We are aware of the advert, and the police and also immigration have been informed, as the company is using the hotel to gain money off prospective employees,’’ Tennant said in an email.
“We are very concerned, as this is our reputation.”
Jobs are also advertised at the Hilton hotel in London, listed along with a phone number for the company’s contact person that had been disconnected as of yesterday.
A staff member at CAMHR, who declined to be named, said yesterday the agency was not responsible for advertisements people posted on its website. He added that CAMHR received many job advertisements every day and was constantly monitoring them to remove bogus ones.
But Andy Ahmed, a professor of religion at Pannasastra University in Phnom Penh, said yesterday he had alerted CAMHR last month about the bogus advertisements after one of his students almost signed over his money to the scammers.
CAMHR had taken no action, he added, despite his repeated warnings to it.
“I had a look and just thought: ‘This looks very, very bad’,” Ahmed said.
“[My student] was very grateful that I stopped him in his tracks – he was ready to cough up the money.”
Hem Sithan, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Commerce, declined to comment yesterday, as did officials at the Ministry of Labour.
Representatives of Hilton Hotels could not be reached for comment by the Post.
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