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Job offers by Accurum Technologies LLC
We received queries from India about employment offers by a US company called Accurum Technologies LLC. Here is what we found when we researched it.
The company requests a US$3,800 deposit from job seekers who need a H1B visa application, to be paid in two installments. They are very careful not to mention that request in writing. It is always demanded over the telephone, so the job seeker has no written record of them demanding the money upfront.
Supposedly that money will be refunded within 3 months of starting their new job, but how many job seekers at Accurum Technologies will actually be able to start a job in the US this year? First of all, you have to remember that currently over 75% of H1B visa applicants are turned down, fewer than 1 on 4 succeed and are able to work in the USA. Most of the visas go to people working for large Indian outsourcing firms. Accurum Technologies LLC is not one of them. This company name does not appear at all on the MyVisaJobs.com website that lists the sponsoring employers for H1B visa applications made between 2001 and 2007. There is no evidence that Accurum Technologies has ever sponsored a single H1B visa application, despite taking numerous large deposits from Indian job-seekers. Deliberately or by accident their name is very similar to Accurum Inc, a legitimate Indian company that did sponsor H1B visa applications until it was acquired by another company in 2005. The domain accurumtechnologies.com was registered the following year, in 2006 and some people may well confuse these two companies that have no connection to each other.
According to reports from job seekers, the company claims that the US$3,800 deposit is a security deposit to prevent job seekers from having Accurum sponsor them for a visa, but then work for a different company. However, H1B visa holders can only switch employers with great difficulties, if at all. Therefore the reason quoted for the deposit is invalid.
Furthermore, the US embassy in New Delhi states on its website "that no firm or person can help you obtain a U.S. visa." All non-immigrant visa applicants need to appear for a personal interview, where no one can appeal on their behalf.
When we started to research the company, a search for its name only found two hits, on the company's website itself. A search for the phone numbers listed on www.accurumtechnologies.com (1-732-214-8875, 1-732-214-8876) found them listed by optimaresources.com, a company also claiming to be based in Edison, New Jersey, about which there is a thread on Fraudwatchers.org (see excerpt). According to visitors of Fraudwatchers.org with personal experience with Optima Resources, they were charged between $300 and $4,400 upfront and once they had paid the company showed little interest in them.
Accurum Technologies and Optima Resources not only share the same location and phone numbers, both also seem to employ a person called Meenakshi Sarkar and coincidentally, they use the same webhosting company (1&1). The remarkable number of coincidences suggests Optima Resources may have become reincarnated as Accurum Technologies after the former was starting to get publicly denounced as a scam. A search for the street address finds CLD&ASSOCIATES CONSULTING INC. (cldassociates.com) about which there is also a thread on Fraudwatchers.org...
A search for text on the accurumtechnologies.com website finds whole paragraphs matching word for word on other websites, for example einfotek.com, an older job site with connections to India. At very least text has been plagiarised from other sites, which is not usually a good sign. This also appears to have been the case for CLD&ASSOCIATES CONSULTING INC.
The domain accurumtechnologies.com is registered using a different street address than currently listed on the company website:
Registrant:
Vinod Kumar Pazhanimala
518-7 Old Post Road
Suite 142
Edison, New Jersey 08817
United States
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: ACCURUMTECHNOLOGIES.COM
Created on: 07-Nov-06
Expires on: 07-Nov-08
Last Updated on: 08-Nov-07
Administrative Contact:
Pazhanimala, Vinod Kumar kumarvk123@yahoo.com
518-7 Old Post Road
Suite 142
Edison, New Jersey 08817
United States
7324944830
On the website:
Accurum Technologies LLC.
2227 US Highway One,# 206,
North Brunswick NJ 08902
Telephone: 1-732-354-4828
A search finds several other businesses using "518-7 Old Post Road", but with postal mail box (PMB) numbers instead of suites. What this most likely means is that "Suite 142" in the above record is actually a rented mailbox, not an office.
Given the large number of H1B visa applications that will get turned down on 1 April 2008, what will happen to the $3,800 deposits made by job seekers promised jobs by Accurum? And maybe even more interesting, what other company name will start popping up, maybe also with a New Jersey address, a few months later to repeat this deposit-taking scheme under a new name with new victims?
See also:
Job offers by Accurum Technologies LLC
Dear Candidate,
We are pleased to inform you that your resume has been short listed
after initial screening from the database we received from one of the job
portals.
If you are interested and are looking for a job in United States of
America, please forward your latest resume to our Recruitment Manager, Mr.
Sumit Patel on below given e-mail address and may also call him
directly on below given phone numbers.
Please also note that the numbers of work visa available for the Year
2008 is very limited. In 2007 H1b Visa Cap exhausted within the first
day of its opening and a large number of eligible candidates could not
get a job in America because they did not act in time.
Regarding Us
"Accurum Technologies LLC." based at USA is a fast growing consulting
firm specializing in bringing together companies seeking to fill
permanent/temporary positions with qualified individuals looking for new
opportunities.
As an ever-growing consulting company, we get a large number of
Projects with specialized requirements through our direct clients as well as a
large pool of primary vendors. As part of these requirement processes,
we are searching for consultants (Candidates) with IT background now.
If you need more information about the hiring process of our company
please feel free to contact the Recruitment Manager
sumit@accurumtechnologies.org or visit our website
www.accurumtechnologies.com
Companies have already started recruiting, so have we. Please contact
our office at your earliest convenience to expedite your hiring process.
We are keen to work with you and for you.
Best Regards
Manoj Sharma
Manager HR
Accurum Technologies LLC
518-7 Old Post Road,
Suite 142 Edison,
NJ 08817, U.S.A.
Phone Number: +1-732-214-0861, +1-732-301-2490. +1-732-470-7650
(Mon-Fri; 9:00 am- 5:00 pm EDT/New York Time, Indian Standard Time 6:30 PM To
2:30 AM)
Email: sumit@accurumtechnologies.org
Website: www.accurumtechnologies.com
Letter from optimaresources.com:
Your application approved for job/ H1-B Visa for USA
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 14:15:02 +0530
Dear Candidate:
This email is in response to you resume that you posted on a job search portal. Your resume has been short listed after the initial screening. If you are interested and are still looking for a job in America , please forward your resume to the resource manager assigned to you and call her at any of the following phone numbers.
Optima Resources, Inc. is an established consulting firm specializing in bringing together companies seeking to fill permanent and temporary positions with qualified individuals looking for new opportunities. As an established consulting company, we get a large number of projects with specialized requirements through our direct clients as well as a large pool of primary vendors.
As part of these requirement processes, we are constantly in need and search of consultants with a wide variety of skills. We are currently accepting applications and are seeking talent in several functional areas. If you need more information about the hiring process or our company please feel free to contact the resource associate or visit us on our website www.optimaresources.com.
Please also note that the numbers of work visa available for the year 2007 are limited. In 2006 H1b visa exhausted within the first 60days. A large number of candidates could not get a job in America because they did not act in time. Please contact our office at your earliest convenience to expedite your hiring process.
We look forward to your resume and to hear from you.
Best Regards,
Meenakshi Sarkar
H.R. Manager
Optima Resources Inc.
190, Lincoln Highway ,
Route 27, Edison
New Jersey 08820.
USA.
Phone: 1-732-579-3645, 1-732-447-3737, 1-732-301-2967, 1-732-214-8875, 1-732-214-8876, 1-732-214-0086, Fax: 1-732-549-7508, Mon-Fri; 8:30 am- 5:00pm EDT/ New York Time, i.e. (Indian Standard Time 7:00 PM To 3:30 AM )
E-mail- Sonia@optimaresources.com (Resources Manager)
Visit our Website: www.optimaresources.com
Due to heavy rush of calls if you find it difficult to get through to our numbers in early hours i.e. between 8.30 to 13.30 Hours US Time/6.30 PM to 12.00 Midnight Indian Time, please try after these hours when there is comparatively low call rush.
CLD&ASSOCIATES CONSULTING INC. (cldassociates.com)
Previously the same street address was also used by:
CLD&ASSOCIATES CONSULTING INC.
190 Lincoln Hwy.
Edison, NJ-08820
HEAD OFFICE
CLD & Associates Consulting Inc,
3422 Old Capitol Trail
# 700 Wilmington DE 19808-6192
302 994 6104
CORPORATE OFFICE
CLD & Associates Consulting Inc,
190, LINCOLN HIGH WAY
ROUTE 27 EDISON
NEW JERSEY-08820
Tel : 732-548-1870, 732-593-8391
Toll Free Number : 1-866-650-9871
Fax : 732-833-8184
There are a number startling similarities besides the street address. This company also offered H1B visas to people in India, requesting an upfront deposit of US$3,500. Like in the case of Accurum Technologies some of the website contents appears to have been blatantly copied from websites of other, legitimate companies.
The following website comparison is very interesting:
-
CLD & Associates Consulting Inc:
As one of the pioneers in the IT Consulting, since its establishment CLD has gained the good will of the local as well as the global market. CLD has a list of distinguished clients and CLD is committed to establish and maintain long standing partnerships with the clients, where they obtain professionally crafted products and services on par with global industry standards.
http://cldassociates.com/Aboutus/Testimonials.htm
Pflegen:
As one of the pioneers in the IT Consulting, since its establishment Pflegen has gained the good will of the local as well as the global market. Pflegen is committed to establish and maintain long \ standing partnerships with the clients, where they obtain professionally crafted products and services on par with global industry standards.
http://www.pflegen.in/itservices.html
-
CLD & Associates Consulting Inc:
CLD provides software product and application development solutions to large established companies as well small and medium companies and startups.
http://www.cldassociates.com/
Global Bridge InfoTech Inc.:
GBIT provides software product and application development solutions to large established companies as well small and medium companies and startups.
http://www.gbitinc.com/services/technology.html
-
CLD & Associates Consulting Inc:
Our client relationships are among our greatest competitive assets. We deepen and enrich this relationships through disciplined growth, innovation, and seamless execution. We demonstrate our commitments to clients through the firm's emphasis on excellence, integrity and ethical behavior.
http://www.cldassociates.com/Aboutus/Overview.htm
Merrill Lynch:
Our client relationships are among our greatest competitive assets. We
deepen and enrich these relationships through disciplined growth,
innovation, and seamless execution. Corporate Governance Merrill Lynch
demonstrates its commitments to clients and shareholders through the
firm"s emphasis on excellence, integrity and ethical behaviour.
http://www.thescripts.com/forum/thread506755.html
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