As the availability of internship positions for university students has contracted, fraudulent practices have increased, with criminals luring naive students desperate to find a position into committing illegal offenses. Some pay a lot of money for a fake proof of internship certificate, others believe they are doing a sales job and provide their bank details and ID cards, only to find they are used in fraud or money laundering. Sometimes, they are offered remote work, only to find that fraudulent agents have colluded with company staff to charge them for the positions without employers’ knowledge. In most of these online scams, ignorance of the law has seen students become criminal accomplices. Although courts often show lenience to these hoodwinked students, experts said more stringent oversight in the internship market is needed, as well as thorough education to spread legal awareness in educational institutions.
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