In this case, Saudis and foreigners are both learning that trying to illegally obtain work visas can expose them to shams that could end up making them feel victimized by their own crimes.

“One man approached me and offered to sell me a work visa. I was at the time looking for a visa to employ someone in my shop,” said Hassan Muhammad, a Saudi who ended up being scammed after attempting to violate the country's labor laws.

“I bought the visa because it takes a long time to get visas issued from the Labor Office. I then dispatched the visa to an East Asian country to hire a worker and was then shocked when I was told that the visa had expired. I lost a lot of money like this.”

A common tactic employed in visa scams is for a Saudi to acquire a quota of foreign workers he can bring into the Kingdom, often through a shell company or by exaggerating the need for foreign workers in order to obtain a high number of allotments. Then the Saudi sells these visas to others. The workers that come in under these visas are technically under the sponsorship of the visa seller, but work for somebody else.

In this scenario the seller of the visa, the buyer of the visa and the worker are all in violation of the law.

Many who have fallen for this scam learn later, as Muhammad did, that the visa they purchased was expired.

While the person who acquires visas to sell must be Saudi, people who attempt to buy these can include foreign workers who are illegally attempting to bring relatives or friends to Saudi Arabia to work.

Such was the case of an Indian national who works at a commercial showroom.

“I wanted to bring my brother to work with me at my sponsor’s shop,” he said. “I paid SR5,000 to a man for the visa. Then I sent copy of the visa to the Saudi Embassy in India.”

He later learned the visa had already been used to bring in a worker.

“I have been trying my best to get back the money from the young man over the last two years, but to no avail,” he said.

Since his attempt to buy the visa was a crime, he cannot go to authorities with the problem.

“Visas are issued in accordance with licenses given by the concerned authorities to run a firm for a specific number of staff. Hence, there is no question of a widespread trade in visas,” said Hussein bin Hamad Al-Mari, director of the Labor Office in Asir.

“There are provisions in law to take punitive action against those engaged in the sale of employment visas. Such citizens are barred from recruitment for a period of five years. If anyone repeats the offense or commits two offenses, then they will be banned from recruitment forever and their cases will be referred to the concerned authorities for necessary penal action,” he added.

The foreign workers, on the other hand, potentially face jail time, fines and deportation, even if they are unaware that their visas were obtained illegally.