Claim: A WhatsApp message containing a link to a website purporting to be the British multinational oil and gas company Shell claims that the company offers jobs for skilled and unskilled labourers.
Verdict: False. The WhatsApp link claiming that Shell offers jobs for 2023 is fake and misleading. The Link, upon verification, is not for the official company.
Full Text
A WhatsApp message containing a link to a website purporting to be the British multinational oil and gas company Shell states that the company offers jobs for skilled and unskilled labourers.
Once you open the link in the WhatsApp message, it takes you to a website, and the front page shows an image of individuals wearing the reflected work suit and the company logo.
The site also contains an application form with questions such as “Select Title, Your First Name, Last Name, Phone Number, Email address, and Country.”
It is important to note that however applicants answer these questions, they will be directed to another step which automatically “congratulates” and qualifies the applicant to work with the company. When the steps are completed, applicants are again asked to share the link with “five people or 15 friends on WhatsApp.” After the green verification bar is filled, he or she will also be redirected automatically to the company’s appointment page.
Applicants are also told that after these processes, they will receive a confirmation email within 24 hours after a successful application.
Verification
ScamAdviser.com, a verification tool used to certify the originality of websites and links, was used to analyse the authenticity of links. Upon analysis, findings show that the alleged Shell website was suspicious and was rated with a “very bad trust” tag and flagged up as a link associated with scammers.
Further research established that the website of the British multinational company Shell Group of Companies does not carry anything like “TABNAIJA” in its URL. The Company does have jobs for skilled and unskilled labourers on their website, but the requirements for these jobs are not to fill out an application form and are in contrast to what was specified on the false link. The real company is also aware of these scam alerts. It has issued a caution on its website about people or sites claiming to be offering jobs at their company.
“Please note that Shell Group of companies (nor any of the organisations that recruit on our behalf) never ask for any money or payments from applicants at any point in the recruitment process. All individuals who successfully gain an offer of employment from a Shell Group company, whether directly or indirectly, are always required to undergo a formal recruitment process. All communications should originate from a verifiable Shell e-mail address and not from an Internet e-mail address, e.g., Hotmail, yahoo etc.”
Recruitment scams
According to the Shell Group company’s official site, the fraud scam section states:
“The job offers come from organisations falsely pretending to recruit on behalf of Shell Group companies or by people claiming to work for or be affiliated to a Shell Group company. These propositions notify individuals that their qualifications were found suitable to work as an employee (local or expatriate) for a Shell Group company and solicit the transfer of significant sums of money to pay for work permits, insurance policies, etc.”
Meanwhile, the company asks those wanting to seek jobs from them to consider that they do not request money from applicants at any point in the recruitment process.
Internet users are cautioned against opening these viral links.
Conclusion
Based on research, our finding reveals the link in the WhatsApp message has a URL that contains words such as “tabnaija,” which cannot be found anywhere in the original link of Shell Group.
It has the potential to compromise people’s private information, meaning some webpages, like that of the purported Shell Oil and Gas recruitment site, is a risk to personal devices and may interfere with the privacy of individuals who access them at any given point. At times, it may encrypt viruses in their devices, scam them or infuse malware or virus in devices.
Bryan B. Dioh Jr.- Dubawa Fellow
