{"id":80,"date":"2008-09-25T23:59:37","date_gmt":"2008-09-26T03:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=80"},"modified":"2008-09-25T23:59:37","modified_gmt":"2008-09-26T03:59:37","slug":"job-scam-targeting-english-speakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/job-scam-targeting-english-speakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Job Scam Targeting English-Speakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was going to tell you about \u201ctv\u00e4ttstuga<\/strong>\u201d today, but then realized that there are more pressing subjects in the world today. And no, I am not talking about the American banking crisis.
\nI am talking about this article<\/a> in The Local:<\/p>\n

\u201cAn experienced scam artist has been targeting English speaking jobseekers in Sweden, luring them with promises of non-existent jobs, police say.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A few people outside of Sweden can even imagine how hard it can be for a foreigner without any Swedish skills to enter the job market here. So an ad like that, seeking applicants for an office job and not requiring fluent Swedish was indeed a dream come true to hundreds of people.
\nIn reality, neither the company nor the job existed. It was all an elaborate scam. But what\u2019s puzzling is the motivation of the scam artist. He didn\u2019t bilk his victims out of thousands of kronor, and his personal material gains seem rather slim \u2013 just a bunch of laptops purchased on credit. So why did he do it? The article claims it was simply for the thrill of cheating unsuspecting people and destroying their lives. From what I\u2019ve heard from the English-speaking community here in Sweden, one poor guy actually quit his job in the UK and moved here for this non-existing opportunity, only to find out he\u2019s been scammed. Another one, like in the article, declined a different job offer and moved from another city to Gothenburg.<\/p>\n

And the saddest part of it all? There is nothing that the police can do, because much of the damage caused is not legally criminal.<\/p>\n

But why was it so easy for a smart, sensible person to fall for this scam? As the guy interviewed in the article said: \u201cWhen you\u2019ve been trying to get a job for a long time, you don\u2019t question [things].\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

And this statement sums up nicely something that many prospective immigrants to Sweden do not realize, or simply choose to ignore \u2013 that getting any job here will be hard, and getting a nice, cushy office job will be even harder, if you don\u2019t speak Swedish.<\/p>\n

So, the moral of this story? If something looks too good to be true, then it probably is, even in Sweden.<\/p>\n

PS. And the truly scary part of this is that the website of this non-existent fraudulent company is still up! The firm hosting it, even though notified about the case, did nothing to pull it down. And the scammer is thought to have moved to Copenhagen and might be targeting expats there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was going to tell you about \u201ctv\u00e4ttstuga\u201d today, but then realized that there are more pressing subjects in the world today. And no, I am not talking about the American banking crisis. I am talking about this article in The Local: \u201cAn experienced scam artist has been targeting English speaking jobseekers in Sweden, luring…<\/p>\n

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