Thursday, October 30, 2008
Erode: An online recruitment scam has come to light with a multinational automobile company informing an engineering student that a person or organisation was misusing its name.

The fraudsters had ‘recruited’ the student and 119 othersafter more than 10 rounds of technical tests, most of which were conducted online. The affair came to light following a media report, which the company took note of, and told the student that it had not conducted any recruitment drive.


Rolls-Royce, informed the student that “an organisation or individual has been making false representations to you in the name of Rolls-Royce. We are very sorry to have to tell you that none of this correspondence [letters sent in the company’s name by the fraudsters] originated from our company, and that we have no record of anybody offering you a contract of employment to work for us anywhere worldwide.”

The student had received an ‘appointment order’ on a Rolls-Royce letter pad stating that he had been selected as a graduate trainee on an annual pay of $92,000 or Rs.38.54 lakh, with a bond period of five years. The student was also informed that he would undergo a 40-day graduate internship with the company’s ‘career partners,’ which would be fully sponsored by Rolls-Royce.

The ‘appointment letter,’ carrying a United Kingdom address and signed in the name of Will Smidth, senior HRD in-charge, ‘Rolls-Royce Energy,’ also mentioned the date of internship.

Neither the student nor his college placement officer could be reached for comment.

The college principal said students should be doubly cautious about online recruitment process.

Rolls-Royce told the student that it would investigate the matter. “We take misrepresentation of our name and brand very seriously and will be investigating what happened in this case so that steps can be taken to avoid any further occurrence.”

The Tamil Nadu Cyber Crime Cell police said they had not received any complaint.