People in West Nile have been cautioned against dealing with companies that fraudulently recruit labour force to work in Kampala and outside Uganda. This follows an incident last week in which two boys and one girl from West Nile were reportedly duped and recruited to work in Kampala after being promised hefty monthly pay.
The fraudulent dealers asked the unsuspecting victims to pay five hundred thousand shillings as a commitment fee, and for preparing their travel documents. Upon arrival in Kampala, each of the victims was tasked to call a relative to send one million shillings for processing travel documents to work in Europe.
Richard Matua, the Assistant Resident City Commissioner of Arua in charge of Central Division, revealed that he was called for rescue by one of the victims of the fraudsters who had been confined in a place near Kawempe Division in Kampala City. He said that upon arrival, he was shocked to see dozens of young people parked in a small room as the company employees disappeared.
Matua identified the company involved in the scam as Aim Global, which he said has been operating an office along transport road in Arua City. The company reportedly works with some residents in Arua City to convince and defraud unsuspecting persons.
The room where the Aim Global company has been operating has since been closed, and reports from the security team indicate that the two people who have been working there reportedly fled to DR Congo or Kampala, while their accomplishes including one lady identified only as Suzan, are also on the run.
One of the victims, only identified as Saviour, who was rescued by Matua, disclosed that they would be given different phone numbers to call different relatives at different times to send them money for processing their documents and upkeep, and once this is achieved, the number is immediately switched off.
“The situation in the place we were taken to was horrible, as many people from different places are brought and parked here with no food, but you have to call your relatives to send you money,” Saviour said Meanwhile, security in Arua City has launched investigations to trace the whereabouts of the employees of Aim Global who are reportedly on the run.
Reports over the last two years show that hundreds of people in West Nile have fallen victim to con artists, who come to the region, open up offices, and later disappear. Some of the con artists use tactics to promise to lend new Bajaj motorcycles to people if they deposit half of the total cost of six million shillings on the company account but later disappear.
Further reports indicate that the companies operate a syndicated plan where they pay some locals to lure the idle and jobless youth into the scam. Last year, 12 people from a reportedly fraudulent company that came to recruit young boys and girls were arrested in Arua City, and they are currently on remand in Arua government prison-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
