Man aspiring for job in Singapore gets cheated of 17K

The Times of India

COIMBATORE: Authorities at a leading hospital in the city were shocked to find their letter heads forged by unidentified men, apparently to get favourable health reports enabling them to land overseas jobs. The hospital authorities, who stumbled upon the fraud during the chance visit of one such man hoping for a job in Singapore, have lodged a police complaint. When questioned, the man stated he was ignorant of the forged letter head, claiming it was given to him by another unidentified person.

According to police, Shanmuganathan, a resident of Karaikudi in Sivaganga district, had applied online for a job in a retail supermarket chain in Singapore two weeks ago. Shanmuganathan received a phone call a couple of days ago from a person claiming to be a staff of the super market chain. He instructed Shanmuganathan to visit Fun Republic mall in Peelamedu and meet their representative there. When Shanmuganathan visited the mall, a man posing as the representative of the firm handed over a file with papers showing a purported MoU between city based Ganga Hospital and the said supermarket for health certification. The man urged Shanmuganathan to get a master health check up at Ganga Hospital.

According to police officials, the unidentified man told Shanmuganathan that a good health report was mandatory to secure the job in Singapore. However, he claimed to have spoken to the doctors at the hospital to give him a good health report. For this he collected 17,000 from Shanmuganathan. But only when he approached Ganga hospital, the hospital staff told him that the MoU document was a fake.

P Vijayan, 61, assistant security officer of Ganga Hospital, lodged a complaint with Saibaba Colony (crime) police station. The hospital management claimed that they have not signed any memorandum of understanding (MOU) with any firm regarding health certification for jobs abroad.

Shanmuganathan was not ready to lodge a complaint with the police. Thus, the hospital management lodged the complaint and police registered a case under section 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC. But police are yet to find leads but want to identify the man Shanmuganathan met at the mall, to crack the case.