I received an email from a recruiter who had viewed my LinkedIn profile. The salary was generous. The work was fully remote. The message was polished, personalised and strangely flattering. I had already mentally converted the salary into Tanzanian shillings and planned how I would casually mention "my team in Europe" in everyday conversation. Within half a minute I had mentally spent my first three paychecks and started wondering whether "working across time zones" sounded as impressive as I thought.
But then something told me to do a reverse image check on the recruiter's picture, so I did. Turns out "David, Senior Talent Acquisition Manager" was actually a very handsome dentist from Brazil who, as far as I could tell, had absolutely no interest in my LinkedIn profile. I almost got scammed!
In East Africa, the stakes are high, according to ENACT Africa (2023), data suggests that up to 80 percent of East African youth are unemployed or underemployed, a reality that may make our region fertile ground for job scammers. Furthermore what rarely gets discussed is the scam aftermath. Most victims never report what happened. We tell ourselves we ‘should have known better" on repeat.
That silence has a cost beyond just the individual victim. The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) reported that job scams increased by over 30 percent in 2024, with young jobseekers the most targeted group. INTERPOL, in a 2023 global alert, noted an alarming escalation in trafficking networks using fake job offers to lure educated East African youth into forced labour situations in Southeast Asia.
