Job search website issues fake Andhra University recruitment notification, authorities alerted

An online job search website, www.careers99.com, was found to have posted a fake recruitment notification, inviting candidates to apply for vacancies at Andhra University (AU). Upon receiving inquiries, the AU administration alerted the Visakhapatnam Cybercrime Police and lodged a complaint.

Sources from Andhra University told Yo Vizag that the fake recruitment notification was allegedly posted on the careers99 website, three days ago. As per the fake notification, as many as 44 vacancies were announced for teaching and non-teaching posts. The job roles included professors, junior assistants, typists, record assistants, security guards, and attenders, among others. The job search website further advised the interested candidates to send their applications to the management of careers99.com, bearing the e-mail account, gvshivakumar4@gmail.com. 

The incident came to light after the officials at Andhra University started receiving calls about the application and selection process. Acting upon the situation, the AU Registrar, V Krishna Mohan approached the police and filed a case against the miscreants.

Speaking to Yo! Vizag, Visakhapatnam Assistant Commissioner of Police (CCS), Sravan Kumar, said, the police will investigate the case and identify the fraudsters. Adding that it is difficult to ascertain the number of people, who have fallen prey to the scam, he mentioned that there are several fake notifications on the internet.

It may be recalled that, earlier in October 2020, a fake website, claiming to be the website of Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), was found to have posted a job notification for trainee engineer and diploma trainee posts. The cybercriminals created the fake website with an altered domain – www.visakhapatnamport.com, duplicating the official website of the VPT. The job notification, on the fake website of Visakhapatnam Port Trust, allegedly noted that there were 2,250 vacancies. The fraudsters further collected Rs 1,200 as an application fee from each of the aspirants.