Young South Africans, particularly women, are being warned that fake foreign job offers circulating on social media are putting them at serious risk of exploitation and human trafficking.
Image: Henk Kruger/Independent Newspapers
Young South African women are being warned that fake foreign job offers circulating on social media are putting them at serious risk of exploitation and human trafficking.
This comes after a growing number of young South African women have been approached online with what appear to be international job opportunities in Russia.
"These so-called job opportunities are not just misleading. They are dangerous," Deputy Minister in the department, Steve Letsike, said earlier this week.
"We have seen patterns that point to organised networks using fake job posts to lure vulnerable young women with false promises of a better life abroad," Deputy Minister in the department, Steve Letsike, said earlier this week.
Currently, South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, standing at 33.2% according to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released by Statistics South Africa.
"South Africa’s national unemployment rate stands at 33.2%, but the figures show that women continue to carry a heavier share of this burden. The unemployment rate for women was 35,9%, compared to 31,0% for men, a gap of 4,9 percentage points," Stas SA noted.
Nkosinathi Mahlangu, Youth Employment Specialist at the Momentum Group Foundation, said scammers exploit the desperation of young job seekers with enticing but false promises.
"Travel incentives and accommodation often sound attractive, but they’re rarely genuine," Mahlangu said.
"With SA's sky-high unemployment rate, young people’s desperation for employment is being exploited – and the situation is further exacerbated thanks to the online channels now available to these scammers".