Crescent Healthcare New York Scam

Few minutes past 12:00 noon. Last quarter of 2007.

Catching myself a bus ride to my Makati apartment after work, I received an interesting text message. It came from csoft.co.uk as automatically identified by my phone. It stated there Paolo, please check your email regarding you employment process and reply back urgently to crescent_healthcare_usa@yahoo.com. Fax 1-646-390-1373 Crescent Healthcare NY USA.

Oh wow. It’s a big break for a tired E*Trade rep itching to have some well-deserved rest. Can you imagine that? A US-based agency’s sending SMS directly to my phone! It’s silly. Yeah. But, for a licensed nurse who can barely survive in the Philippines’ financial district, it sounds like lovely music to the ears. As sweet as it was, however, I had my initial feeling of doubt at that point. Did I see yahoo.com? Institutions of this sort usually have their e-mail addresses connected to their website address i.e. info@***health.com. I gave that some thought but I told myself, “Let it go. It’s a chance after all.” So I did with some reluctance. After reading the message thrice, I called my girlfriend and asked her to check my mail. By weekend, she handed me two sheets of paper containing Crescent NY’s message. Here’s a part:

 Dear Paolo, 

This is with reference to your application seeking a position in Nursing Service and we thank you for your interest in our company!  We are always looking for motivated and career oriented professionals to join our team and contribute to our continued growth and success. Crescent Healthcare offers a positive, professional and award winning work environment where our team members are recognized for their contributions. We are recruiting and processing nurses, pharmacists and other hospital staff for various positions in Hospitals throughout the United States. To enable us to consider your application for a suitable job you are advised to send the following documents through email attachments or by fax and then to our New York office by courier service and we will let you know of your eligibility for a suitable position in Nursing service. 

Documents Required for your Employment Visa & Green Card Process

(1) Copy of RN License from your country

(2) Copy of birth certificate

(3) Copy of passport

(4) Copy of marriage certificate (if married)

(5) Copy of your Diplomas/Degrees of Nursing Education

(6) High School Diploma/Certificate with the dates of graduation and years attended

(7) Copy of CGFNS Certificate or Passing score report from NCLEX-RN exam (if available otherwise we will arrange your exam registration & preparation)

(8) Your full resume of current work experience with past work experience certificates with three professional references/certificates

(9) TOEFL or IELTS and TSE Certificate (or certificates from other English test if available otherwise we will arrange your exam registration & preparation)

(10)Eight recent photographs passport style photographs taken within the current year) 

We would also like to inform you that as a valued member of Crescent Healthcare you will have the privilege to experience most challenging and exuberant work environment offering promising rewards. Excellent benefits package may include competitive salary and free of cost housing, health and dental plans, paid vacation, extended sick leave, medical care, life insurance, short and long term disability plans, 401(k) pension plan. You will be glad to learn that your travel and housing is absolutely supported by us. In addition, the Management will provide you all necessary training, orientation, & study materials and assistance to prepare you for this job and Visa Screen.  Moreover, we will also arrange for your work visa (preferably green card) provided you fulfill all the pre-requisites and comply with the contract terms and instructions, confirming your long term commitment with us. To facilitate a prompt review and verification process of your credentials, you need to send a complete set of your testimonials and copy of passport through fax or email attachments.  We operate nationwide and place nurses, pharmacists and other hospital staff throughout the United States. This job offer is valid for our Group of Hospitals located in the United States and the Management will apply its best discretion while placing your services at any of these hospitals based on your meeting with the eligibility requirements, your past work experience and our staffing needs In case you have any question regarding this job opportunity and benefit package, please feel free to contact us by phone, fax or e-mail. We look forward to receiving your documents as soon as possible.  Thank you once again for your interest in our employment.  

With best wishes,

Yours sincerely, 

D. Scoville

Director, HRM Crescent Healthcare

110 Wall Street, 11th Floor, New York , NY 10005 USA ,

Phone: 212-709-8182 Fax: 1-646-390-1373  email:crescent_healthcare_ny@usa.com crescent_healthcare_ny@yahoo.com

Not the type of professionalism I expected especially with the D. Scoville thing but I guess it’s some undergrad clerk typing it all up for the company. So I allowed that to pass. My girlfriend though has some questions. She e-mailed them asking them about what particularly would they want to be sent first—the testimonials part or the detailed ones, what to do in case we get married in the middle of the processing, etc. We got promising responses and I decided to continue communication with them. I am somehow nearly convinced of their offers until this message came as an answer to my question about what support will their give my girlfriend:

 We can bring her to the United States as we told you repeatedly but you must send your signed employment contract and all credentials. If you want to take her with you while traveling first time to the United States, we will be able to get her a visitor visa valid for six months renewable for another six months but in the meantime we will petition her for a permanent visa (fiancée or wife either way) when you get married.  We are willing to provide you all possible help and assistance but you must follow our instructions and procedures for timely process of your employment. 

It seems they’re so willing to negotiate at great lengths. Yes, I’m an NCLEX-RN passer and I have an impressive résumé. But I never heard of an agency that’s willing to stretch its normal boundaries for clients. It gave me doubts again. 

I didn’t know that my Crescent hopes exploded with the fireworks. After conducting a Bible study at a place called Dalahican, I went with my girlfriend to an internet café. While she was rushing a lousy clerk for the photocopying of her book, I logged online. Doubts subtly bugged my mind so I decided to check on Crescent’s website. I typed in Crescent Healthcare. Up came a site that’s different from the one I saw before. I checked their locations and saw that they have several but only within California and Florida. I reckoned that probably the one in New York was their corporate office and it wasn’t made available in cases of pesky compliance. I returned to the search engine’s homepage and typed in Crescent Healthcare New York. I clicked on one hyperlink and it led me to the website that I have opened before. This time I decided to scrutinize it. No logo of Crescent Healthcare was posted unlike in the site I opened minutes before. It has pictures of its supposedly New York office but the shots seem to be copied from the internet and it didn’t look like it’s some staffing office. It looked like some typical Wall Street façade. At its side column, it posted some features of the agency. I presume it wants to slap into your face the things they can offer you. One of its claimed offerings said A bit smarter healthcare professional. I was like, “What?!” A bit smarter?! What kind of company offers you that? No, it can’t pass for being simply realistic. Not even a struggling institution will state that in its page. It’s stupidity at its April 1^st parade. Here’s one final blow: the website presents itself like wonderland for teens. It does not appear like a website for professionals. See for yourself: http://www.crescent-usa.com/index.htm

How stupid can I be? I didn’t see these proofs before. I decided to dig further after my brief investigation. I searched for forums or blogs that say something about the aforementioned institution and (surprise!) I discovered a lot of inquiries about its legitimacy, complaints after being swindled and information about this certain scam. Man! I was a few steps away from sending my papers! I wouldn’t send placement money, of course, but sending documents to the United States still cost some hard-earned pesos. I found out though that there are some people who bit a piece of this $2000- or sometimes $4000-worth rotten pizza and got conned. Whew! It’s disappointing to lose a prospect but it’s a surefire relief to save my fanny from confidence games.

The puzzle pieces were complete and in place by that moment. Yeah, you can say it’s the moment of truth. I’m glad I’m not on the losing end. I feel sorry for those who got ripped off and it’s easily the reason why I’m writing this entry. Guys, let’s be extra careful. Scrutinize, scrutinize, scrutinize. I hope this helps.

 Let me get this clear: Crescent Healthcare, with its offices around California and Florida is a legitimate institution. I have nothing against them and this blog entry is not directed to them. Crescent Healthcare New York though is non-existent and a fraud. It’s awful for their business that their name is used but it’s up to you guys to establish the distinction in your minds and trust the original one.