Case Studies

Employment application frauds

by Mark Rowe

In the first half of 2014, more than half of all the confirmed frauds (63 per cent) recorded to the CIFAS Internal Fraud Database were employment application frauds, according to the trade body. That’s frauds where job applicants have made serious fraudulent declarations about employment history, qualifications or criminal records.

This is CIFAS says in keeping with the trends recorded during the previous year and underlines how vital it is for applicants to understand that lying in an application is far from harmless or acceptable. In fact, applicants who submit false or exaggerated information run the risk of dismissal, the body points out, and – in worst cases – the risk of criminal charges. The scale of the fraud also shows that organisations are running more stringent checks.

CIFAS speaks of concern that more are turning to fraud to gain employment; though it is encouraging that the proportion of applicants who were unsuccessful remained high, at four in five (79pc). The most common reason for recording unsuccessful employment application frauds was the concealing of adverse credit history when the position (often in financial services) has a regulatory requirement of a clean credit and financial history. Another main reason was the concealing of unspent criminal convictions, which CIFAS suggests may to be due to the time lag between someone accepting a job and the vetting and Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly CRB) checks to be completed and returned to the new employer.

CIFAS Chief Executive, Simon Dukes, says: “While competition for jobs is fierce, the temptation to lie to make an application or CV stand out might seem appealing. However, fraudulent declarations regarding qualifications, employment history and experience, et cetera, can have very serious consequences. Not only can it lead to dismissal when discovered but – if an applicant finds him or herself in a position for which they are not suitable, due to a fraudulent declaration – then they can cause financial damage to an organisation and lead it into reputational and regulatory trouble too. Organisations have long been expected to verify the details given to them by customers. They have now come to recognise that they also need to apply those same standards to prospective employees. For applicants, therefore, it really is better to be honest rather than trying to mislead, only to end up in bigger trouble as a result.”

Visit www.cifas.org.uk/record_high_fraudulent_job_applications.

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