I was recently offered an amazing job with FAS Abu Dhabi...or so I thought. Turns out id just been the victim of a very convincing and elaborate hoax to try and extort money from me via a western union transfer to cover the cost of my visa permit fees and courier costs etc, to the amount of over $1000.
It was a very convincing scam, contract all in place and seemed legit. Wording always professional. Names of people correct (i checked the FAS website and they were impersonating Celine Pedon who is the current HR Manager listed on the FAS official page).
Everything was so perfect, and I had a start date of a month from now, I was getting very excited about starting and had a phone call from some Arab accented guy called Mohammed (no, seriously!) who was really difficult to understand as he didnt seem to speak much english, or understand my simple questions very well... but there was a lot of back and forth interaction via email, which in hindsight was just to really suck me in.... Then boom, the email that came stating i was to process my visa application with Emirate Diplomat Agency (who i googled and found NO website or info for)
I asked the emailer for an office number, and he always just said he would call me (from a private number).
Then I found this earlier thread on here, and after sending the link to 'Mohammed' I heard nothing back...
Ive informed FAS about this to their genuine email and wanted to share with you all to hopefully save you from wasting your time, and printer ink....and especially from visiting a western union money transfer shop anytime soon!
Just to note, the fake scam emails were from the following email addresses
[email protected] and
[email protected]
Feel free to waste their time as much as theyve wasted mine...
