Special 26 rerun at KPMG: Job aspirants across India taken for a ride?

In the story that I got to narrate i.e., Special 26 rerun at KPMG, a group of impostors posing to be KPMG managers hire and issue fake offer letters to half a dozen job aspirants. This incident takes place in the real KPMG office lending some degree of authenticity to the entire operation. By the time the candidates and the company figure out that they were duped, the impostors already leave. The unsuspecting aspirants were earlier beguiled into transferring money into a bank account. The story can be seen from different perspectives; that of the company and the aspirants and how each one has to be cautious at their own ends before actually getting into the contract.

After I narrated the story, there were a few questions that were raised in the class. Can reputed companies actually ask for money from candidates at the time of joining? What measures can be taken by the companies and prospective candidates at their respective ends so that such incidents are not repeated? Our professor had narrated another incident about few companies luring people to join their organizations in Nigeria for a handsome pay. But in reality these impostors would take the candidates as hostages and then demand huge sum of money from their family members. Such cases of fraud have become common these days. Another story narrated in class that was also about fraud was “SJDM Orders Probe into Cheating of Software Engineer”.

Being a fresher, delving into such cases and analyzing it from different perspectives made me think and ponder about such incidents. It is extremely to confirm if standard industry procedures are being followed. Also in case of any deviations, one should always verify the facts being presented before being party to any contract.