Warning for Filipinos: DOLE fake social media account

The Department of Labor and Employment released a warning for Filipino jobseekers to be cautious of Facebook pages and accounts that are pretending to be employees of the department.

The said accounts posing to be employees are offering jobs in the Philippines and abroad. It has only been brought to attention by DOLE when a particular jobseeker reported that she communicated with a man named Arthur Villena.

The jobseeker said Villena introduced himself as a worker in the department and so they have been discussing a local job opportunity. She called the number posted on the page and was told by Villena to send Php 1,000 as reservation fee. She also agreed to meet with him at the DOLE central office in Intramuros but was unable to contact him since the number became unreachable.

She said she found the Facebook page “DOLE Job Assistance-Local and Abroad”. The page was deceiving since it displays the department’s official logo and photo of former Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.

The page have posted job offers from different countries with positions including nurses, caregivers, managers, restaurant staff, and many more.

It is still unsure whether the page is still active but the department said they have already reported the page and coordinated with Facebook to shut it down.

DOLE hopes that this will become a warning to all Filipino jobseekers to be extra cautious when it comes to contacting suspicious pages for this was not the first time they encountered page imposters that run illegal recruitments and scams.