A special cyber unit has been set up in Thailand to clamp down on online overseas job scams, such as to protect Thai workers from working for jobs abroad illegally.
Varanon Peetiwan, director general Department of Employment (DOE) said the special unit has been set up to suppress and monitor activities of placement agencies on social media posts, luring workers in Thailand to work in foreign lands illegally.
The unit is focused on curbing all online patterns of illegal overseas job placement, particularly through Facebook and Line, Bangkok Post reports. Anyone found to be linked with the scam will be charged for illegal procurement of workers to work overseas without permission from the central employment registrars. This is also seen as violation of Section 30 of the Employment and Job-Seeker Protection Act.
This move by the DOE is following up on many Thai workers being detained and deported from South Korea, since the authorities feared they might overstay their visas or look for work. The practice is focused especially on Thai tourists departing for South Korea since Thais now enjoy a 90-day visa exemption.
The Royal Thai Embassy in Seoul warned earlier that, those Thai workers caught working illegally will be deported, blacklisted or banned from visiting South Korea for up to five years.
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Varanon further instructed authorities concerned with the department’s labour control checkpoints at Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports to tighten measures to crack down on illegal overseas job placement networks, particularly in South Korea.
According to the department’s figures, the labour control checkpoint at Suvarnabhumi airport barred 55 Thai workers from flying to South Korea in February, 60 in March and 19 in April. Thai workers were also warned by Varanon to not get lured or fall prey to attractive overseas job advertisements on social networks – with many Thai workers being conned out of money and stranded abroad since they enter the countries illegally.
People who are aware of illegal overseas job recruitment can make a report or seek advice from labour officials at the DOE, the Labour Ministry, the Central Employment Registration and Workers Protection Division and provincial employment offices nationwide. They can also call labour hotlines, 1694 or 02-245-6763, or visit the website: www.doe.go.th/helpme.
Feature image credit: bbb.org
