Stories of Transient Workers in Singapore

Scammed

One day, Singapore Ministry of Manpower called all twenty of us workers to a meeting. A middle aged man walked into the room, and said he had called us here because one of our former colleagues had complained that our employer was charging us to renew our work permit, and that that was illegal. I was shocked to hear this, as my boss had been charging me $700 a year for permit renewals for the last three years. $2100 was no small amount of money, especially since I had to support my family of farmers back in Bangladesh with my salary. After the meeting, they told me my work permit was cancelled and I was out of a job. This distressed me greatly, as I needed to have a stable salary. Luckily, MOM provided us affected workers with a special pass, and promised to find us a new job if we couldn’t do so ourselves. Looking back on it, I still get annoyed whenever I think about the money my employer scammed from me, which MOM was unable to return, and that period where I could not find a stable job was one of the most harrowing in my life.

 Footnote:

The actions of the employer in this story breach Section 415 of the Singapore Penal Code, by deceiving the person and fraudulently induces the person to deliver property to him. While the culprit behind the scam was apprehended by Singapore authorities, more can be done to increase awareness on these scams, in the same way that the relevant authorities increase awareness on scams targeted at citizens, the Ministry of Manpower can use media and propagate the information, denying future offenders the ability to get away with crime for prolonged periods of time.