Thousands of Ugandan youth fleeced in Java House jobs scam

Thousands of Ugandan youth are in tears after internet scammers fleeced them of money in exchange for working opportunities with Java House, an African restaurant franchise.

The scammers, using an unverified Java House Facebook account announced that the restaurant will be recruiting massively in fields of; waitressing, receptionists, Public Relations officers, cashiers, among others.

However, on application, every applicant was offered a job and told to report for duty this week. Nile Post followed the scam and our reporter applied for the job of Public Relations officer.

Below is the reply he got eight hours later.

Dear applicant,

We acknowledge receipt of your application for the advertised new positions at our Kampala branch. I wish to inform you that your application was successful and we are pleased to confirm your hire for the position of a Receptionist. This position is contingent to one week training upon which you'll report Monday 13th November, 2017, 9:00 a.m. at Village Mall Bugolobi, Kampala. Do not hesitate to call if you have any question prior to that time.

For the purposes of identification, validation and verification you are requested to carry along the following documents on the scheduled date:

1.Original National Identification Card.

2.Certificates used during application.

3. Hard Copy of Curriculum Vitae.

4. Letter of recommendation where applicable.

5. Staff uniform and identity tags.

 

You are reminded to take note of the following key points.

1. ORIENTATION AND TRAINING

   Orientation and a rigorous practical training process there-after, will start from 9:00am-4:00pm daily for the duration mentioned. You are therefore required to keep time and cooperate with your supervisors to facilitate the process. Relevant materials required will be provided by the management, these include practical equipment depending on your station of work.2. SALARY AND REMUNERATION

   you will be paid a competitive salary on a monthly basis at the rate of USD.300 per month plus other allowances including travel,overtime, medical and house allowance where applicable. The duration of the contract is four years, renewal on an annual basis upon satisfactory performance and recommendation by your supervisors. We therefore expect you to give your maximum effort to improve service delivery and customer satisfaction.3. STAFF UNIFORM AND IDENTITY TAGS.

   As per the rules and regulations of the organization to enhance identification of new Staff and improve service delivery to our customers, all our new employees are required to have 2 sets of staff uniform and work identity tags. The identity tags and staff uniforms will be provided by the restaurant. You are therefore required to make and order of the same through our regional coordinator via his emailevansomondijava@gmail.com. The organization will however not be responsible for the courier charges for delivering your uniforms and identity tags to Kampala Uganda.

 

Once your order is successful  get back to us immediately to schedule for your training. Kindly note that if we do not get a feedback from you by Wednesday this week, we shall pass this appointment to another qualified applicant.

Regards,

Dr. NICKSON WAKHUNGU,

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER.

 

We then asked another reporter to send an email to the said Evans hoping that if the recruitment is legitimate, he would be able to tell that our other reporter had not applied for a job.

 

Evans replied the email in less than 20 minutes. In which he said an order for uniforms has been placed, without measurements! Below is the email.

 

Hello, this mail is to confirm that we received your order placement for two sets of uniform and work identification tags.

The staff uniform you ordered for consists of the following;

1. 2 pairs of black leather shoes.
2. 1 neck tie.
3. 2 shirts( one long sleeved and one short sleeved).
4. 2 pairs of long trousers/skirts.
5. 1 pullover(and chef jackets where applicable).

 

We therefore wish to inform you that we have the uniforms ready at our store for delivery from Nairobi to Kampala. You should  make available the following information to facilitate delivery;

 

1. Measurements of yourself following this guide;

 

1. a) Bust
2. b) Waist
3. c) Hips
4. d) Hollow to Floor
5. e) Height

 

2. Shoe Size.
3. Full Names as they appear on your National Identity Card
4. Physical Address/Location
5. Reliable Phone number.

 

As mentioned earlier, you are supposed to meet the cost of delivering your parcel, which is 3,000 Kenyan shillings. Please find below Bank details

of courier company:

 

Bank Name: Consolidated Bank of Kenya

Account Name: DHL Courier Services

Account Number: 011736738479

 

For Western Union or Money Gram please use the following details;

 

Receiver's Name: Evans Omondi Angwen

Address: Nairobi

Phone Number: +254 726-124-524

 

For Mobile Money (MPESA) Payment;

 

Phone Number: +254 726-124-524

Name: Evans Omondi Angwen

 

Once payment is made send a scanned copy of the bank slip or remittance receipt for verification purposes.

Your parcel will reach Kampala within 2 days after verification of payment.

 

Regards,

Evans Omondi,

Regional Coordinator,

Java House.

 

However, a statement from Java House indicates that there are no such recruitments taking place;

 

At Java house we are proud to be the employer of choice of over 2000 young people within the region. Kindly note that Java House is not conducting any massive recruitment this November as purported by this Facebook page. This is not our official Facebook page. All applications can be completed through our Java House career portal. Java House does not require any fees from candidates who wish to join our teams.”

 

The said FaceBook page has since been pulled down, while several Ugandan youth have parted with between Shs500,000 and Shs1million for the scam jobs.