A scam uncovered from ad in FI !
I recently advertised my services in FI and to my great surprise and at that moment pleasure, as I was sitting on the apron in my PA 28 at LFAC after another instrument training detail, i was offered a dream job.
It was too good, I sceptically thought, and as it turned out was indeed too good to be true.
The job was to Co-Pilot a Citation X and to be based in Monaco, which happens to be my favourite place in the world, with an above average salary and a great benifits package.
The flying was to be European, North America and the Middle East, flying between 75 and 100 hours a month. What more could any low jet hour embryonic Co-Pilot possibly want??
Obviously the scam gradually uncovered itself through a series of faxes and phone calls to be no more than a foreign totally unscrupulos individual, trying to rip off a person who has spent the last five years sweating blood and tears studying and training in order to gain a professional qualification to improve ones life and to spend the working day/night doing something which is immensly enjoyable and rewarding. cont/
Benefits spelt this way and not benifits, sorry slight slip of the finger!
The proposition continued that I was to be flown out to XXXX and have a simulator assesment after some famil training. This would have been done after I stupidly and possibly blindly handed over a fairly large sum of my money the day before.
Blindly because of the desperation in trying so hard to secure that elusive first jet job and also the whole package on offer being so good.
The money was to be for my type rating should my efforts in the simulator be a success, but would be held in a safe account and returned to me in cash should I fail the sim check!
Well I figured the whole thing to be a scam long before the so called contract arrived by fax from a Hotel from a person who had never been heard of or stayed at the place. The travel arrangements didnt arrive at the same time either as the Company secretary was still in the middle of organising them for me. At this point I decided not to waste any more money and broke the line of communication.
All I can say to you all is be careful of the lure of fantastic jobs which appear plausible but really are to good to be true.
Whatever the promise DO NOT part with any money in advance unless absolutely sure. A friend of mine warned me that any company worth anything would not be making such demands.
Remember other countries have very different cultures and laws to the ones we are all used to here at home.
I can give more details via pm to anybody interested.
If your looking for your first job I hope this can serve as a warning and prevent all who read it from possible financial loss, but more importantly the possibility of putting oneself in grave danger, for who knows what could have happened had I gone along with it and then decided not to pay on my arrival?
Good luck