Scorpio
10-11-2007, 06:12 AM
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl ... =161215069 (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161215069)
NY job turns into nightmare for Trini
Richard Charan rcharan@trinidadexpress.com
A poor woman who wanted to give her children a Christmas to remember, went to New York to work as a care giver, but ended up enslaved, abandoned and lost in a city of 19 million people.
Strangers helped her get to the Trinidad and Tobago consulate, and, last Saturday, she made it back home.
The 38-year-old mother of three spoke out yesterday, hoping to warn others about the scam and to remind them of the phrase "all that glitters is not gold".
She asked that her name and that of her husband not be used for fear of ridicule by relatives and neighbours in their hometown of Princes Town.
Fraud Squad detectives have heard it all before. :shock:
The Express was told about people placing advertisements in the newspaper offering jobs abroad. Police advised that interested persons seek to verify their authenticity. - Erm, maybe they shoud advise them to get a green card too
The Southern Division Fraud Squad recently arrested a man on eight counts of defrauding people with the trick that he could secure them nursing jobs in England. They paid between $15,000 and got nothing.
The housewife who ended up lost in New York paid $5000 to get there. When she returned to Trinidad, all she had for her troubles was $50.
Her 38-year-old husband is just happy she made it back alive.
He said: "My wife got this contact from a woman who said she knew of this care giving job, where you got free accommodation, food and US $400 a week. She had a visa and left on September 30."
From the moment she landed, it went sour.
The job was not in New York but a three hour drive away. The geriatric home was in a rural area, with no other houses in sight. The woman knew not the address.
The 1 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. shift six days a week turned into a grinding sixteen hour workday.
The husband said: "When my wife complained, they said she was being trained to clean, bathe and feed and help the old people move from bed to chair."
Her room was given to a patient within days and she was asked to sleep on the couch.
The husband, a road worker, said: "My wife complained. But she didn't know where she was, could not call a taxi to get her. When I called, the phone was always busy. My wife said she can't handle this. They gave her some money for the four days she worked. But they deducted US$50 as a transport fee."
The woman was left in the massive Grand Central Station, and spent the day begging for help.
Her husband said: "She was lost. She didn't know the area. She met two men, like God sent them, who made phone calls, and took her to the consulate. They helped her. Lucky she had some US on her. She paid to come home."
The couple had already discussed how they would use the money the woman planned to make.
"We were thinking six to one (the currency conversion). The opportunity looked nice. But it didn't work out. I just glad she is safe."
But he said his wife was scarred by the experience.
"She is stressed out. Her eyes sink in. She can't rest, only thinking about how they treated her like a slave."
NY job turns into nightmare for Trini
Richard Charan rcharan@trinidadexpress.com
A poor woman who wanted to give her children a Christmas to remember, went to New York to work as a care giver, but ended up enslaved, abandoned and lost in a city of 19 million people.
Strangers helped her get to the Trinidad and Tobago consulate, and, last Saturday, she made it back home.
The 38-year-old mother of three spoke out yesterday, hoping to warn others about the scam and to remind them of the phrase "all that glitters is not gold".
She asked that her name and that of her husband not be used for fear of ridicule by relatives and neighbours in their hometown of Princes Town.
Fraud Squad detectives have heard it all before. :shock:
The Express was told about people placing advertisements in the newspaper offering jobs abroad. Police advised that interested persons seek to verify their authenticity. - Erm, maybe they shoud advise them to get a green card too
The Southern Division Fraud Squad recently arrested a man on eight counts of defrauding people with the trick that he could secure them nursing jobs in England. They paid between $15,000 and got nothing.
The housewife who ended up lost in New York paid $5000 to get there. When she returned to Trinidad, all she had for her troubles was $50.
Her 38-year-old husband is just happy she made it back alive.
He said: "My wife got this contact from a woman who said she knew of this care giving job, where you got free accommodation, food and US $400 a week. She had a visa and left on September 30."
From the moment she landed, it went sour.
The job was not in New York but a three hour drive away. The geriatric home was in a rural area, with no other houses in sight. The woman knew not the address.
The 1 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. shift six days a week turned into a grinding sixteen hour workday.
The husband said: "When my wife complained, they said she was being trained to clean, bathe and feed and help the old people move from bed to chair."
Her room was given to a patient within days and she was asked to sleep on the couch.
The husband, a road worker, said: "My wife complained. But she didn't know where she was, could not call a taxi to get her. When I called, the phone was always busy. My wife said she can't handle this. They gave her some money for the four days she worked. But they deducted US$50 as a transport fee."
The woman was left in the massive Grand Central Station, and spent the day begging for help.
Her husband said: "She was lost. She didn't know the area. She met two men, like God sent them, who made phone calls, and took her to the consulate. They helped her. Lucky she had some US on her. She paid to come home."
The couple had already discussed how they would use the money the woman planned to make.
"We were thinking six to one (the currency conversion). The opportunity looked nice. But it didn't work out. I just glad she is safe."
But he said his wife was scarred by the experience.
"She is stressed out. Her eyes sink in. She can't rest, only thinking about how they treated her like a slave."