The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups (HKFYG) called on teenagers to be alert to job traps when seeking summer jobs.

The HKFYG conducted an online survey in April of 1,186 students at Secondary Three or above. Almost 48 percent of the respondents had had summer jobs.

The survey revealed that four percent of the respondents had fallen into job traps in the past. Among them, 69 percent worked as salespersons, and some of them were involved in pyramid selling schemes.

Sometimes these young job-seekers would not report their cases to the police as they thought their loss was not too big, unit-in-charge of the Youth Employment Network at the HKFYG Cheung Chi-wai said.

A 21-year-old surnamed Wong lost HK$210 in a job trap.

On March 31, he answered a questionnaire in front of a commercial building in Tsim Sha Tsui and afterwards the interviewer took him upstairs "to get him a sales job which could make a lot of money".

The company turned out to be one that sold health products. Wong was invited to a sharing session the next day which cost him an entrance fee of HK$110.

"The staff kept telling me the advantages of a certain health product," he recalled. "I couldn't leave as the staff were strongly persuading me to stay."

Wong was asked to buy a carton of the product. He was reluctant to pay but finally gave his only HK$100 note to a staff before he was allowed to go.

Gary Tang, supervisor at the HKFYG, said many criminals approached young job-seekers in similar ways. He added they might make illegal use of their personal information.

Other common job traps include unreasonable dismissal, unpaid wages, making the youngsters to commit crimes and so on.

Tang suggested students be alert to different sorts of job traps.

The HKFYG will hold an employment exhibition at a mall in Diamond Hill on Thursday, offering over 4,000 jobs.

(HK Edition 05/14/2008 page1)