Contracts Demand Millions of Won for Training
Promised High Earnings, but Only Received a Few Yuan
"Left with Massive Debt After Terminating the Contract"
There has been a sharp increase in cases of young job seekers in China falling victim to scams while searching for part-time jobs.
China Central Television (CCTV) recently reported a growing number of new scam cases in which many job seekers, instead of earning money, end up with substantial debt under the pretense of receiving "vocational training" during the part-time job recruitment process.
CCTV explained, "When searching for the keyword 'part-time education' on employment-related platforms, more than 13,900 results were found," adding, "Most of these postings claim that signing a contract to participate in vocational education and training will allow you to earn a large sum of money."
Xiaolu, a victim of this scam, told CCTV in an interview, "I was drawn to the job posting because it mentioned no experience required, high income, and flexible working hours," adding, "They promised I could earn several hundred yuan even while taking the (job-related) training, so I decided to start." The company presented a contract requiring her to pay 8,390 yuan (about 1.68 million won) for vocational training, to be paid in installments over 12 months. Xiaolu thought she could cover the training cost with her monthly earnings, but the training was not helpful for the work, and the part-time job paid only a few yuan. When she asked the company to terminate the contract, she was charged a penalty fee of over 2,000 yuan (about 400,000 won).
Guoguo also fell victim to a similar scam. He signed a contract to pay 5,980 yuan (about 1.2 million won) in training fees in installments after being hired for a part-time voice acting job. However, the actual work was chatting, not voice acting, and the training content was unrelated to the work. When Guoguo tried to quit the part-time job, he was left with only a penalty fee of 1,400 yuan (about 280,000 won).
CCTV reported, "We checked the registered addresses on the business licenses of the companies involved in these scams, but could not locate them." These companies are known to generate profits by making job seekers pay for training under the pretext of education. CCTV added, "Because the company information, education service contracts, training provision, and installment payment methods all differ, it is difficult to protect the rights of job seekers," and "the contracts are crafted so cleverly that they even evade punishment by the Chinese People's Court."
Li Zhenfei, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China, told CCTV, "The entire process-from posting false job information to inducing job seekers to sign contracts requiring installment payments for training fees while working part-time-is a scam," advising, "Job seekers should not be lured by phrases like 'high income' or 'no experience required,' and should be wary of any recruitment process that demands advance payment for training or similar fees."
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