According to the Gladstone Observer, the engineering giant discovered that an "employment broker" in Tasmania claimed to offer employment with Bechtel on Curtis Island and was asking for a $200 payment for an initial referral and wanted another $200 when a position was found.

Bechtel has long been targeted by a range of recruitment fraud techniques and consequently maintains a warning statement on its website.

"Bechtel will never ask for money, credit card, or other personal financial information during the application process," it stated.

"Bechtel will never ask candidates to pay fees to start work or to secure visas. Bechtel does not require any purchase or payment to submit a resume or apply for a job."

Bechtel has engineering, procurement and construction contracts for the LNG plants of the APLNG, GLNG and QCLNG projects on Queensland's Curtis Island.

It stood out in the recruitment stakes of 2011 with an initiative to hire 400 adult apprentices for this work.