The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is working with the City of London Police’s National Fraud Intelligence Bureau to raise awareness of an online scam. It involves phoney online adverts offering training or jobs in private security, using the names of real employees within genuine recruitment agencies.
After submitting a CV, someone is offered a job and requested to pay an up-front fee of around £50, through an online money transfer, to carry out a criminal records check or uniform fitting. After paying the fee, the ‘recruitment agent’ may then claim that the e-money payment has failed and that the victim must submit a further e-money voucher code to continue with the application; this extra step is purely to maximise the fraudster’s gain after seeing the victim is interested. The victim is then asked to attend an interview or induction session, at a multi-purpose business venue, such as a conference centre. The company offering employment is later found not to exist or the genuine recruiter has no knowledge of the contact details used by the suspects.
There are steps that you can take to ensure that offers for training or jobs are real, these include:
– Research the company offering the service, check their website for contact details and make contact with them.
– Be aware of advertisements with free e-mail addresses such as Gmail or Hotmail.
– Be aware of any advertisement requesting payment upfront, especially through online methods using e-money payments.
– Research the training company using the SIA’s training provider search tool on the SIA website.
The Security Industry Authority points out that the cost of a criminal records check is included in the SIA licence application fee.
For further advice – visit the NFIB’s website: http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/advice-and-support/fraud-and-economic-crime/nfib/Pages/default.aspx
