Scams & Conmen
Firstly I would like to provide a link to a website that provides much more detailed information about scam and rip off
websites concerning how to get a job offshore:
http://offshoreguides.com/Avoid_the_Scams.asp
Colnic.co.uk
I have recently been informed of a website called colnic.co.uk
This site is a very amateurish rip off of Cleddau.Com's oil
rig pages even going so far as to steal some of my personal photographs and
copy pages from my website word for word.
On investigation it seems what appears at first to be a
legitimate UK company is actually run by two South African men and other
sites belonging to 'Colnic Marketing' are aimed at extracting money from
people for information on visas and methods of gaining employment in the UK.
To get a job offshore in the UK is very difficult for
Brits. For foreign workers it's even more difficult.
I would imagine that the 'package'
offered by this website for 30 pounds is no more than you can get for free
by reading the pages of this website. My personal database of addresses has
probably also been copied for distribution in their package.
I would advise nobody to send any
money to these people.
www.uk24.co.za -
Nico Swart +27 588523103 - "UK24 was born when two South
African’s came back from England after 3 years and experienced first hand,
what was going on in the visa and working holiday industry. We also had a
bad experience of thinking that we had everything covered by using an agent.
So we decided that it was time to do something about it and to
save
our fellow young travellers money!"
OilCareer.Com
I received an email in the year 2000 from a company called Oil Career.Com. They wanted me
to join their affiliate program for selling their services. It seemed like a good deal,
everything seemed like it would be tracked properly and for every person visiting their
site after clicking on an ad on my page and then signing up for one of their packages, I
would receive 40% of the fee.
Some visitors to my site later emailed me
saying that Oil Career had either not kept the promises made on their website or had not
responded to them at all.
I tried to contact the president of Oil Career who had initially emailed me last
year to see if he could help but all I received was automated email responses promising a
quick response which never came despite several attempts by me to contact them.
I know of other website owners who's visitors report the same problems with this
company.
So now I have taken down my link to Oil Career and emailed them to tell them why
I have done so. I feel it only fair to share this information with visitors to my site,
not to tell them not to use Oil Career, but just to highlight the experiences of some of
the people who have visited my site and provided this feedback.
Be very wary before parting with such a large sum of money. A similar service to
Oil Career is offered by
www.rigjobs.co.uk and this this costs only $30! This site is run
by an ex-offshore worker trying to provide an honest and helpful service, just like
myself.
Oil Career is not a member of it's local Better Business Bureau in Canada, to
view information about this company go to
www.edmontonbbb.org click on Company
Reports, and enter the company name New Ventures (trading name of Oil Career.com)
Caledonian Offshore
Also, another company called Caledonian Offshore has caused much
grief to some visitors of this site. I don't have any details on
this company but judging by the number of people who have sent $100's and
received no reply, let alone a job, I would advise anyone to think VERY
carefully before using their services. |