Employees at their work stations in a Bangalore call centre. Jharkhand has recently seen an increase in fake advertisements promising call centre jobs but fleecing people

Ranchi, Nov. 25: Bag an opportunity to work on a global platform. Walk in for a job at an international call centre today. Salaries range between Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000. Pick-and-drop facility and other perks available. Interested? Come for an interview at....'

Advertisements such as this appear regularly.

But recent developments show that some may be put up by fake agencies and in case one turns up at such interviews, he might lose money than bag a job.

Although there are close to 15 agencies in Ranchi that recruit for call centres in other states, sources claim that not all are genuine, as some also dupe the call centres for whom they recruit.

A notice published by Vertex Customer Services Private Limited, a Gurgaon-based call centre, in two dailies today illustrates this point.

Although employees of the Gurgaon-based call centre were prohibited to speak to the media on the issue, a company official, on condition of anonymity, said it has reports that an agency had recently recruited candidates in Ranchi and even provided them with appointment letters in the call centre?s name.

?It stated that the candidates would join the company next month. We were taken aback and resorted to putting up the notice,? he revealed.

Further investigation revealed the situation could be more complicated, with business rivalry playing an important factor.

Agencies earn between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 from call centres for every candidate that they place and competition between them is intense.

Rough estimates point out that around 150 candidates from Ranchi are placed in call centres in New Delhi, Calcutta and Bangalore every month.

The turnover of the ?flourishing industry? touches around Rs 1 crore in the state capital.

?There is one recruitment agency here that takes interviews over the phone for candidates who approach it for placements,? said an employee of Call Waves, a placement agency, who was a victim of another agency.

But what actually happened was the agency dialled the number of a person stationed in Ranchi who asked the candidate a few questions.

?The candidate is told that he is being interviewed by a New Delhi-based call centre. He is further told that the company has recommended that he undertake a three-month training after which he can be placed and draw a handsome salary,? said the employee.

?The person is now trained for three months and charged anything between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000. In the training, classes in English are taken by seemingly unqualified and underpaid professionals. The candidate is happy to pay since he expects a job at the end. But there are numerous cases in which the candidate has not been placed,? he added.

Some agencies are even known to issue appointment letters from companies with which they do not have any association.

?In fact six months ago, a placement agency conducted a recruitment drive at Marwari College. They charged Rs 150 from each candidate just for interviewing them. Then they went away with promises of returning with the results. In fact, they never went back to the college campus again,? said Aliya Naseem, the centre manager of Akiko Callnet, another placement agency.

?All I can say is that we carry out our jobs with utmost sincerity. As for frauds, they can be there and I have nothing to say,? said V.D. Srivastava, a retired general manager (HR) of Heavy Engineering Corporation, who takes classes on communication skills at a placement agency called Step-in.