Eight welders from India who were keen to migrate to New Zealand came across New Zealand citizen Srinivas Chamakuri in Singapore in 2008.
Photo: Supplied
Their stories are part of an RNZ investigation that uncovered evidence of migrant workers being scammed thousands of dollars.
One of them told RNZ they had each paid Mr Chamakuri about $2500, under the understanding that they would get a letter telling them of a job offer, which they could use to get a visa from Immigration New Zealand.
The welders, who RNZ agreed not to name, were told they would each have to pay another $10,000 to confirm a job.
But they said they got nothing in return.
"He [Chamakuri] just gave me the receipt and then he went back to New Zealand and after six months or eight months he didn't contact us ... We didn't get a job [or] anything."
RNZ has obtained receipts showing four of these transactions, all bearing Srinivas Chamakuri's signature. He said the receipts were fakes.
The welder said he had no idea the deal breached New Zealand's immigration laws, and after months of waiting, he gave up on his dream of coming here.
When he tried again to migrate in 2014 he used a licensed agent. Immigration New Zealand told him it had rejected a visitor visa application from him in 2009.
Both he and the agent argued Mr Chamakuri had processed the application. After showing officials the receipts, they accepted the welder had been scammed, and issued a visa. He is now working in New Zealand as a welder.
He said that he and his friends had complained to police in the eastern Indian city of Visakhapatnam in 2009, where Mr Chamakuri is from.
Police told him they already had three or four complaints against Mr Chamakuri.
The welder said he did not know if the police did anything further, but doubted it.