AMSA (Australian Maritime Safety Authority) has issued a warning to inform of a scam which supposedly offers overseas residents a Maritime Security Identification Card (MSIC) and Australian visas to gain jobs with cruise companies.
According to AMSA, the scammers claim to be AMSA employees, and employees of other Australian Government departments and agencies. Fake forms which feature AMSA’s logo are used to extract personal information and money from victims.
Real or fake job offer
Questions to ask:
- Does the job offer sound or look real?
- Did you apply for the job that is being offered?
Receiving an unsolicited job offer can be one of the first signs that the offer is not real. AMSA will never request money to be paid to another organisation, company or account
The job offer may be fake if:
- The company asks for personal identification and financial information using the job application form
- The individual is asked to pay fees related to work permits, police clearance checks, visas, MSIC cards (Maritime Security Identification Card), marine certificates and other licences
- The company is claiming to collect the money for AMSA or they claim that AMSA requires that fees be paid to the company.
Look at the email address
AMSA’s email addresses end with: ‘@amsa.gov.au’ and do not contain strings of numbers or strange letters.
The email address ‘[email protected]’, is fake.
Email addresses such as ‘[email protected]’, or ‘[email protected]’ are fake.
The Authority is called the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) not the ‘Australian Maritime Office’ or ‘Australia Maritime Union’.
‘Captain Mrs. Mirabelle Mass of the Australian Maritime Office’, ‘Mr. Gordon Lawton Llewellyn of the Australia Maritime Union’, ‘Mrs Cheryl-Anne Moy’ and ‘Mrs Anne Connell’ are fake names which have been reported to us by victims of these scams.
If scammed
- Do not reply
It may be tempting to reply to them or ask follow-up questions—but do not reply to the email or call them back unless you find out it is real.
- Contact the actual company offering you the job
- Find out if the job offer is real by contacting the organisation that made the offer.
- Do not reply to the email or use the contact details they have given for the job offer.
- Contact the actual company using their official website or phone number as listed in a telephone directory to ask if the job offer is real.
Report the scam
Report suspected scams to Scamwatch at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
