Sporting enticing prospectuses of employer-organisations, application forms and agreement letters on websites the swindlers invite applications for employment accompanied with a 'small sum' as entry fee or service charge.

The government has warned all, particularly the young job seekers, the main target of the cheats, of such scams and advised to go for financial transaction only after verifying the authenticity of the employer and the job.

"Nobody should send any money without clarification from the government," said Mohammad Quamrul Islam, state minister for Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment.

Confirming the fraudulent practices by false companies using the internet, which is open to all, he said, "We can't close the websites but we can confirm whether the company is genuine or false if anybody comes to us after getting the offer."

The companies, mostly claiming to be based in Europe and America, disappear from the web after amassing handsome amounts of money as entry fees, according to sources.

Right now, such a job offer is posted on the internet by Caledonian Offshore Ltd, claiming to be an offshore oil company, for a daily salary of $310 to $430.

The offer sets a deadline of April 7 this year for receiving applications from skilled and unskilled workers of Bangladesh. The company will charge a total of $438 as service charge from an applicant. The money will have to be sent in two instalments, the first of $189 as entry fee with the application and the second after confirmation of the job.

According to the announcement, the Canadian company, incorporated in Liberia, has processing and service centres in the USA, Denmark and Singapore and at the moment it has many entry level jobs even for people with limited or no previous work experience in offshore oil industry.

It also sketches a beaming future saying the offshore oil company plans to make a tremendous expansion in the current year in the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, the North Sea, Kazakhstan, South East Asia and West Africa creating huge job opportunities.

A few weeks ago, the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment filed a case against the local representative of a London-based company for staging a similar scam by offering lucrative jobs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The company in its job offer posted on the website www.saturnjobs.com asked to send £55 as entry fee. Acting on a complaint and request from the Bangladesh embassy in Dubai, a UAE police investigation found the announcement baseless and a fraud.

Following confirmation from Dubai, the government filed the case and Ramna police arrested the local representative of the company and closed down his office in Malibagh.