Bona fide crewing does not take money for employment

A letter was sent to the seafarer by e-mail which began with the word “Attention”. In it he was notified of the successful completion of the selection: a foreign company is satisfied with his qualifications and profile, so he is offered a job as a master. A copy of the employment contract is attached. «Put your signature in the appropriate place and send us the contract back,»- it said at the end of the letter signed by a certain Dennis Bert (Dennis Bert Chief H.R Officer).

«I never worked as a master and this vacancy caught me, although there was a vague feeling. I have no idea how they got my data from as I didn’t send any application to this company. I called on the specified phone - no one answers, they only respond to e-mail. They sent the contacts of the clerk who supposedly will arrange my employment. I gave a call and a certain Aaron Hadwin asked me to send all information by email. After I followed the instructions  I was promised the golden mountains- moving to the UK for full board and housing, no taxes needed, and even a salary of 8,000 British pounds a month»-the seafarer shared his experience.

However when it came down to it the seafarer was first offered to buy insurance for £ 1900, then register with the Metropolitan Police for £ 1400 for a visa and open an account for transferring the allegedly first salary of £ 1100. After which it became clear to him that this was just the bubble scheme.

«Bona Fide crewing companies will never take money from seafarers. The Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) requires that  «no fees or other charges for seafarer recruitment or placement or for providing employment to seafarers are borne directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, by the seafarer, other than the cost of the seafarer obtaining a national statutory medical certificate, the national seafarer’s book and a passport or other similar personal travel documents, not including, however, the cost of visas, which shall be borne by the shipowner»-recalls the Seafarers Union od Russia.