Scammers Alert: COCOBOD warns job seekers

Management of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) on Wednesday said it has not instructed any person or groups of persons to solicit for application for a job interview and or placement at the Board.

Mr Francis Akwasi Opoku, the Director, Human Resource and Solicitor Secretary, COCOBOD said it was serving notice to prospective job seekers to be wary of fraudsters, who were extorting huge sums of money from job seekers in exchange for jobs at the Board.

Mr Opoku in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the Job recruitment scam in Accra said the COCOBOD has been battling with large numbers of job seekers, since October last year.

He said young graduates across the country troop to COCOBOD office in Accra with the claim that they have been scheduled for an interview for job placement.

He said these scammers used names of high-profile persons and influencer like chiefs, CEOs of public institutions, politicians, clergy and other opinion leaders to lure unsuspecting job seekers to sending monies through mobile money platforms for job interviews and placement at COCOBOD.

The Director said sometimes the scammers also use fake social media platforms and website addresses, the most recent being www.visionqualitycocoa.simdif.com.

He said these scammers defraud the job seekers with an amount between GH¢500.00 and GH¢5,000.00 with the assurance for job placement at COCOBOD.

“Following this, Management of COCOBOD issued various warnings to prospective job seekers through the mass media with the hope that the public will be guided accordingly,” he said.

He said as a corporate entity, all job vacancies at COCOBOD were advertised through the national dailies.

He said COCOBOD does not demand money from prospective job seekers before offering them jobs and emphasized that currently there was no recruitment exercise ongoing at COCOBOD Head Office and any of their officers nationwide.

Mr Opoku, therefore, advised job seekers to be wary of such scammers and report them to the law enforcement agencies.

“We will also continue to work closely with the law enforcement agencies to bring such scammers to book,” he added.