Wellington, Dec 2 NZPA - Two people have been convicted for creating fake job offers to help immigrants get New Zealand residence.

Kumar Akkineni Choudary and Lourdu Joseph William Reddy were found guilty on six of the 11 fraud charges brought against them at Auckland District Court, the Department of Labour said today.

Potential immigrants, either in New Zealand with temporary permits or overseas, paid Choudary and Reddy to get them job offers, to be used to help them get permanent residence, the department said.

The victims of the scam paid between $3000 and $22,000 for what turned out to be false employment offers.

The jobs were presented by individual companies or trusts, including fraudulent offers made on behalf of the Waipareira Trust in west Auckland, without the trust's knowledge.

Both were remanded on bail for sentencing on February 3.

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