The Thai government has issued a warning to jobseekers looking for employment in Japan about fake recruiters and job scams.

Thailand National News Bureau has reported Thai nationals living in Japan raised the alarm after friends and relatives back home were approached by dodgy recruiters and promised construction work in Fukushima, which was damaged by earthquakes and a tsunami in 2011.

The jobseekers were allegedly offered work to help rebuild the city, with the scammers claiming they would not have to go through government employment agencies.

Instead, they were to be charged a fee of [Thai baht] THB400k (£7.6k).

The news bureau’s report said there were no such direct recruitment policies and the country does not accept foreign unskilled labour.

Earlier this year there were reports of Japanese police cracking down on the Yakuza, the native organised crime syndicate, which was allegedly recruiting homeless people to help with the Fukushima clean-up and nuclear decontamination project.

The men were reportedly paid less than minimum wage and in some cases, after deductions were made for food and accommodation, were left in debt to the work agency.

• Want to comment on this story? The Comment box is at the bottom of the page. Sorry for the glitch but just scroll right down and share your opinions!