A fake Dubai job offer usually arrives as a rush. The salary is high, the fee is today, and the company email is a free address. A genuine offer can wait long enough for you to check the company and, later, the work permit. Apna Ghar will not tell you that a high salary proves a fake, or that a modest salary proves a real job. The test is whether an employer exists, whether the visa can be seen on an official UAE screen, and whether the basic wage on a real contract matches the story. An advertisement is not a MOHRE contract. A Word file with a logo is not one either.
Signs the offer is not real
- The company name on the letter does not match a business you can find, or it matches a real company and the email domain does not.
- You are asked to pay for the visa, a security deposit, or medical insurance into a personal account, JazzCash, or a name that is not the company’s.
- The logo looks right but the phone number is a mobile that never answers as a receptionist.
- They refuse to let you check the file on ICP or GDRFA, or they say the enquiry is only for Emiratis.
- The contract is a Word file and they get angry if you ask which line is basic salary and which line is an allowance.
- The job title is “general worker” in the file and “supervisor” in the voice note, with a promise to change it after you land.
- They want your passport, CNIC and a family member’s documents before any reference number exists.
- They push a non-refundable ticket for this week. A real entry permit does not need you to be reckless.
How to check without paying
Ask for the employer’s registered name and the work-permit or entry-permit reference. Check the status the way the UAE visa status guide describes, on an official channel, yourself. Match your passport number and the spelling of your name. A QR code is real only if it opens an official MOHRE, ICP or GDRFA page and the details match. A code that opens a PDF on a private site proves that someone can make a QR code. It does not prove a visa. If the letter names a salary, ask which figure will be basic on the employment contract. Put that basic figure, not the package, into the salary converter. Housing that is “included” must say room or allowance. Included is not a type of money.
The clean path, if the company is real and you are still in Pakistan, is genuine jobs from Pakistan. The wider search is jobs in Dubai. Neither path starts with a fee to a stranger. If a Pakistani promoter is involved, their name has to be on the Bureau of Emigration list before they touch your money. See how to check an OEP. A promoter licence still does not make this particular letter true. You check both.
If you already paid
Stop the next transfer. Paying the balance is how the loss grows, and it does not make a missing file appear on ICP. Collect the evidence while it is still on your phone: the offer letter, the chat, the receipt, the account title and number, the shop photo, and any passport receipt. Write a timeline of what you were promised and when you paid. Then read how to report it and use the FIA at fia.gov.pk if the conduct is deception, and the Bureau if they acted as a promoter. If a real UAE company is misusing a name, MOHRE is the labour door. Do not fly to “sort it out” on a visit visa and a ticket you cannot change.
Tell your family the expectation clearly. A complaint is not a refund. It is the official door. A Facebook post naming the agent can warn other people and it can also complicate a case. File first. If your passport is with the shop, ask for it back in writing the same day. A passport is not their property, and a visa file that does not exist does not need your passport overnight.
Offers that look careful and are still wrong
Some fakes are sloppy. Some are not. A letter can name a real developer, a real mall, or a real hospital, because those names are on the internet. The test is whether that organisation’s own domain is writing to you, and whether a permit exists in your passport number. A relative in Dubai can be shown the same PDF and still not be able to verify it by “asking around”. Asking around is not GDRFA. Similarly, a real company can be paired with a fake recruiter who collects a fee the company never sees. Call the number on the company’s own website, not the number in the letter, and ask if they issued this offer. If they do not know your name, you have learned enough.