SHENZHEN police have reminded migrant workers to watch out for illegal employment agencies which try to cheat migrants seeking jobs in the city.

The jobseekers should go to the large job fairs authorized by the government, ignore fliers handed out on the street, keep personal information confidential and refuse to pay illegal charges.

A common tactic employed by illegal employment agencies is using the name of a fictitious company to cheat people out of their money and scaring away those who want their money back by threatening violence, a recent Shenzhen Special Zone Daily report said.

According to Chen Zhen, a police officer at Sungang Police Station, Luohu District, illegal agencies ask for money from jobseekers using various pretexts, such as deposits, uniform fees, cost of food and accommodation cost and interview fees, taking advantage of jobseekers' eagerness to be employed. It is illegal for job agencies to charge such fees.

Chen said he had recently received some complaints against an agency which made a fortune by charging uniform, health checkup and interview fees. It charged each jobseeker 600 to 700 yuan and threatened those who wanted their money back.

Chen's investigation showed the agency had started operating in the area just after the Spring Festival. Police closed the company after a recent raid.

In a separate case, Sungang police received complaints against an illegal job agency which asked for job introduction fees, uniform fees, insurance and deposits. The police decided to keep watch on the agency, because they did not have sufficient proof as most jobseekers who had been cheated did not report the matter to the police.

Plainclothes police officers sent to the agency found that three jobseekers had been threatened and beaten in a room. They raided the building, rescued the three victims and detained six members of the racket.

An investigation showed the gang had cheated 50 jobseekers out of 20,000 yuan since January.(Han Ximin)