Anyone hoping to land a job in Australia should take extra care after a number of Brits have been caught out by fraudulent recruiters.

There have been reports of agencies making false promises to British job-hunters looking to get employment in Australia, especially in Queensland and Western Australia where there is a skills shortage in the booming mining industry. Victims have paid fees to “recruiters” who claim they can help the applicant gain employment sponsorship or a visa but after taking their money are never to be heard of again.

“We’re hearing about a number of businesses who are overstating the level of assistance they are able to offer jobseekers,” Queensland’s minister for employment, skills and mining, Stirling Hinchliffe, said in a statement in January.

“These operations – usually set up on-line or at suburban shopping centres – offer, for a considerable fee, to include the jobseeker’s resume on an exclusive recruitment database that they claim is used by resources companies. As far as we can tell, the database is fictitious and we have no evidence to suggest that these companies have links to resources companies or their recruiters.”

Brits planning to emigrate to Australia, most probably on a General Skilled Migration Visa, should seek advice from a certified migration agent, such as Taylor Hampton Solicitors [www.emigrate-to-australia.co.uk]. This means the agent should be registered with the Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA) and a Member of the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA).

For details of property for sale in Australia, visit the Australia listings on Rightmove Overseas. One way to save money when buying down under is to use a currency specialist when transferring your pounds into dollars to complete the purchase of your property. For more information on this contact Smart Currency Exchange.

To understand the full step-by-step process to buying a property in Australia, collect The Overseas Guides Company’s ‘Australia Property Buying Guide’