Vietnamese workers paid to secure jobs at Finnish berry farm

A Swedish-language Yle investigation has found that dozens of Vietnamese workers were defrauded into paying illegal fees to secure seasonal jobs at a berry farm near Turku.

A recruiter, active in Finland since the 1990s, allegedly demanded thousands of euros from workers in exchange for arranging employment at farms in Southwest Finland and Ostrobothnia, including Myllykoski farm in Aura.

Son Thai Tran told Yle his family paid a 4,000 euro fee but never received work permits. An inquiry through the Finnish embassy in Hanoi confirmed the recruiter had deceived them. The recruiter has refused to refund the money.

The farm owner stated he was unaware of the recruitment fees and has since ended cooperation with the recruiter.

Yle confronted the recruiter, a man in his 50s, at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in early June as he met a group of workers. He denied charging fees, claiming he only brought relatives to Finland for work. Yle has not named the recruiter as he has not been convicted.