News: CV Fraud

Overseas Cases (or click here for New Zealand CV fraud cases)

Internationally, CV fraud has got so out of hand that we can only report a small fraction of it. But the following cases do highlight just how inventive people can be with their CV's, and how easily taken in employers are - or rather those employers who fail to verify the backgrounds of their job applicants.

 

Overseas Articles

Overseas Cases

Yahoo CEO resigns - lied about having degree
15 May 2012

After four months in the position, Scott Thompson the 54 year-old CEO of Internet company Yahoo has been forced to resign after it was discovered that he had lied on his resume by falsely claiming to have a degree in Computer Science from Stonehill College in Massachusetts.

The college never offered this degree course until several years after Thompson had claimed to have earned his.

When the news emerged Yahoo initially defended its chief executive, calling the discrepancy on his resume an "inadvertent error". But it then came under mounting pressure from shareholders, employees and corporate governance experts to investigate the matter.

The chairman of the board, and four other directors are leaving the company immediately. All of them had approved the hiring of Thompson.

Thompson was a well-known executive, he was previously President of PayPal; and it is possible that whoever recruited him to Yahoo accepted his academic qualification claims without giving any consideration to verifying them.

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UK - Conman with fake CV appointed deputy CEO of Bank
1 February 2011

Peter Gwinnell of Middlesex has been convicted of fraud after using a false CV to gain employment as the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Ahli United Bank.

The 49 year-old posted a CV online falsely claiming he had degrees from Oxford and Harvard, and had worked for investment banker JP Morgan, for 20 years.

His CV attracted the interest of London executive recruitment company Connaught Partners and after a telephone interview Gwinnell was offered the Deputy CEO’s position, and a salary of £165,000 (NZ$343,000).

Gwinnell’s duties included flying to the Middle East on several occasions to meet wealthy clients but after a month of employment the Bank asked an employment screening specialist to verify Gwinnell’s CV.  It discovered he had none of the qualifications claimed, and indeed Gwinnell’s had served a six month term of imprisonment for a previous fraud.

In court today, Gwinnell was sentenced to 50 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 18 months on account of already having been held in custody for three months. He was ordered not to upload a CV on the internet without the court's permission.

In the course of the fraud the bank lost a total of £27,000 (NZ$56,000). This included the first month's salary payment of £14,500, a £10,350 non-refundable payment to Connaught and £2,576 on flights. The bank had managed to claw back £34,348 (NZ$71,000) paid to the recruitment company, Connaught.

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Finland - Fake doctor imprisoned
30 September 2010

A court in Finland has sentenced a 23 year-old man to 1½ years imprisonment and fined him NZ$215,000 for working as a physician without holding any medical qualifications.

Mika Jokinen submitted fake documents claiming he had a medical degree from the University of Helsinki to secure positions at two medical centres in Lohja.

For almost a year Jokinen saw hundreds of patients and wrote thousands of prescriptions. His deception was uncovered by accident during an audit into drug wastage.

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USA - Stock broker jailed for fraud & false CV - unchecked background
24 September 2010

Steven Mandala, has been sentenced to 2 - 6 years imprisonment after being convicted of forging documents, identity theft, larceny and money laundering.

Mandala was able to get a job at Merrill Lynch in Manhattan by lying about his qualifications. He claimed to have managed $300 million in assets earning commissions for his previous employer worth $1½ million annually. He said he was a partner in the company but in truth was a junior broker and he submitted forged pay slips overstating his salary.

Merrill Lynch hired the 29 year-old on the basis of his fraudulent CV without verifying his claims and promptly loaned him $780,000 which he spent on a Ferrari and a lavish lifestyle. After working for eight weeks, Mandala quit Merrill Lynch without repaying the $780,000 loan.

Mandala forfeited the Ferrari and must repay an additional $360,000 in restitution

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UK - Woman jailed for lying on CV
26 March 2010

Rhiannon Mackay, a 29 year-old National Health Service employee has been sentenced to six months imprisonment for lying on a CV she used to secure a job at Plymouth Hospital.

Mackay was employed as a Project Administrator from March 2008 to October 2009 but her performance was so poor that concerns were raised about her claimed qualifications.

When confronted, Mackay admitted to unlawfully claiming to have two A-levels, and also fabricating false references that she included with her CV.

In Court, Mackay admitted fraud by making a false representation and asked that 11 similar offences be taken into consideration.

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UK - Senior NHS manager convicted of CV fraud
23 March 2010

Hasan Tahsin, a 54 year-old senior National Health Service property manager in Essex has been convicted of CV fraud.

Tahsin lied when he claimed to have two first class honours degrees when applying for several positions at NHS trusts between March 2004 and March 2009.

His deception fraudulently earned him £245,246 (NZ$525,000).

Tahsin was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to perform 200 hours of unpaid community work.

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UK - HR Manager convicted of lying about qualifications
21 December 2009

A highly-paid National Health Service Human Resources Manager has been convicted of six counts of fraud by lying about her qualifications over a two-year period.

Kerrie Devine of Devon was employed as a human resources manager for East Devon Primary Care Trust in 2003.

The Trust paid for her to attend courses to achieve qualifications which she needed from the Chartered Institute of Personnel for her work. She dropped out of a course in 2004, after attending some of it, then enrolled in the next stage of her studies but did not attend.

The NHS had paid her fees and time off work to study for courses. Then she was promoted to a £60,000-a-year role (NZ$136,000) without any verification of her claimed qualifications.

Devine also lied to her manager that she had a degree in marketing and a diploma in human resources and lied again to her employers about her academic qualifications when she applied for new jobs in an NHS reshuffle.

Thirty-three year-old Devine was sentenced to six months imprisonment, suspended for two years, 150 hours of community service, and ordered to pay £9,000 (NZ$20,500) in compensation to her former employer.

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Australia - Convicted former Judge’s CV queried
20 March 2009

Marcus Richard Einfeld is a former Justice of the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Courts of New South Wales, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. He was President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission between 1986 and 1990

In August 2006, Einfeld contested a $77 speeding ticket by claiming he had lent his car to a friend (Professor Teresa Brennan) at the time it was photographed by a speed camera. He signed a statutory declaration to that effect. However, it was later revealed that Professor Brennan had died from a hit-and-run road accident in the United States 2½ years earlier, in 2003.

Einfeld was subsequently arrested and charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice. During the investigation it was discovered he had avoided earlier speed camera penalties in 1999, and twice in 2003, by using the same defence – that at the time of the offences he had loaned his car to someone no longer living in Australia. On all four occasions the witnesses to his statutory declarations where found to have been forged. Einfeld also altered his “Palm Pilot” computer diary to make it appear he was not in Sydney at the time of the traffic offences, and he induced a friend to perjure herself to support his claims.

In October 2008, immediately prior to his trial commencing, Einfeld pleaded guilty to the charges.

Since his traffic and perjury offending came to attention, Einfeld became the subject of ongoing speculation about his claimed academic qualifications.

His CV asserts he has a PhD from Pacific Western University and an LLD doctorate in law from Century University, both well-known US unaccredited colleges, or "degree mills" (a degree mill is an organisation that claims to award academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study). On its website, Pacific Western University says it provides "a self-paced, year-round, off-campus experience to all of our students". A Masters from Pacific Western costs $6240 whilst a doctorate from Century University can be had for $5199.

In 2004, Pacific Western University was named in the US Congress as one the worst "degree mills" in the country.

He subsequently re-wrote his entry in “Who’s Who” omitting previous references to having been a  visiting professor at York University in Toronto and Phoenix University in Arizona, and having been a Director of Marks & Spencer. Scrutiny of some of his judicial decisions reveal judgements that adopted others' work without attribution.

Einfeld’s 31-year appointment as a Queens Counsel was subsequently revoked on the basis that his conduct had brought shame on the legal profession, as well as himself. 

Today, the 70 year-old former Judge who in 1997 was voted one of Australia’s 100 national living treasures, was sentenced to three years imprisonment and ordered to serve a minimum two-years before being eligible for parole.

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UK - Survey reveals 1 in 3 job applicants lie on their CV
19 February 2009

A survey of about 1300 adults undertaken by the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors (CIEA) has revealed that more than 30 per cent of job applicants admit to having lied on their CV’s to increase their chance of being appointed to a job.

The Institute, which represents exam markers and assessors, found the most common exaggeration included inventing exam qualifications and work experience that never took place.

The CIEA said it had been “shocked” by the extent of lying and embellishment it had uncovered in its survey.

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South Africa - ANC official and former ambassador admits CV fraud
16 February 2009

Carl Niehaus, the official spokesman for the ruling African National Congress party, has admitted to falsely claiming he had a Doctorate from the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands.

Niehaus, one of the few white members of the armed wing of the ANC and a political prisoner under apartheid, resigned his position after admitting the fraud. He was previously Nelson Mandela’s spokesman.

His CV posted on several web sites, claimed during his time as South Africa's ambassador to The Netherlands from 1997 to 2000 that he obtained a Doctorate in Theology from the University of Utrecht. The University has confirmed it never awarded a Doctorate degree to Niehaus.

Niehaus also claimed he graduated in 1983 with a B.A. from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, but this too has now been proven to be false.

Niehaus also confessed he had forged the names of top politicians in order to secure a loan to pay for debts arising from an extravagant lifestyle, which included flying between appointments in a helicopter.

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UK - “Teacher” imprisoned for lying about qualifications
10 February 2009

A 38 year-old Yorkshire woman who repeatedly lied about her qualifications has been jailed for CV fraud.

Caroline Evans did not have any of the nursing and education qualifications she used to secure positions at various schools and organisations. She was employed by a school on the basis of her claiming to have a non-existent teaching degree from Liverpool Hope University. On another occasion she gained a teaching position whilst on paid sick leave from the Fire Service and she also lied about being ill to avoid a staff induction course, when she was really in a Manchester court facing fraud charges.

In 2004, Evans was offered the job of head of psychology at Lady Lumleys School, North Yorkshire, on the basis of her claiming to have a psychology degree, a post-graduate education certificate and registration as a nurse - all supported by fake certificates.

Five months after being employed and following a tip-off, her employer uncovered Evans' Manchester convictions and their enquiries also revealed that her qualifications were fake. The school called police but it was three years before Evans was arrested - by which time she had committed a further three frauds.  

She lied about her nursing qualifications and criminal record to get a job with Foresight Residential Services, North Yorkshire. She was employed as a care worker in 2005 and in August the following year secured a job with the St John Ambulance service as a trainer and assessor, and later applied for a sales executive job.

It was only after Evans was arrested that school officials learned she was barred from working with children for earlier assaulting a teenager.  Investigations further revealed Evans also illegally claimed more than £1,000 in benefits while working for the St John Ambulance.

In sentencing her to six months imprisonment, the Judge described Evans as “a consistent and persistent confidence trickster”. If any of Evans’ employers had undertaken a pre employment check of her background and qualifications they would have been alerted to her criminal history.

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UK - HR Manager convicted a fourth time for lying on his CV
9 January 2009

Attah Okoji, a 44 year-old Human Resources Manager has for the second time been convicted of lying on his CV to gain jobs in England’s National Health Service (NHS). He was recommended for the position in 2007 by an employment agency.

Okoji did not disclose, and the employment agency failed to check, that in 2002 he had been sentenced to six months imprisonment for stealing £16,000 (NZ$42,000) from the NHS whilst employed by them as a Finance Officer.

Within months of being released from jail Okoji decided he wanted to work for the NHS again and secured a job with a Leeds health body by failing to declare his 2002 theft conviction.

When his deception was eventually discovered in 2004 he was charged with lying on his CV and sentenced to two years community rehabilitation, and ordered to undertake 100 hours' community service. The investigation also showed he had forged his references and submitted false qualifications.

For the more recent charge of lying on his CV to obtain his third NHS position (this time at Northumberland), Okoji was today sentenced to six months imprisonment suspended for one year, 12 months supervision, 100 hours community work and attendance at a 19 day "Thinking skills” course.

PVL Update (12 September 2010): Okoji has done it again. After saying he was a member of the Institute of Chartered Surveyors, a recruitment agency recommended him for a position at Carlisle City Council as a Personnel Officer .

In Court today Okoji was convicted of fraud by misleading and sentenced to eight-months imprisonment, suspended for a year, and ordered to perform 150 hours’ community work.

The sentencing Judge said it was of “considerable concern” that the council had not checked 42-year-old Attah Okoji’s past – even though a simple search on the internet would have shown that he had previously been sent to prison.

“I require from the city council some explanation as to how this situation ever arose, the Judge said. “This man took advantage of what appears to have been a rather lax system. He was employed by the council in a position of trust as a personnel officer when he should not have been, when he had a string of previous convictions which were not disclosed when he got the job. He would not have got the job if the council had known of his background.”

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UK - National Health Service Director jailed for lying about qualifications
7 January 2009

Lee Joseph Whitehead, a 44 year-old NHS Director at Stoke-on-Trent earning £78,000 a year (NZ$200,000) has been imprisoned for three months for lying on his CV.

Whitehead claimed he had a first class BSc in Psychology, an MSc in Clinical Psychology and a PhD in Psychology. He also claimed he was a member of the British Psychological Society. The only qualification he actually held, was a second class BSc degree.

He had also made similar academic claims on job applications going back to June 2003, including one to his previous employer in Aylesbury, where he had worked as a Director for nearly two years.

A colleague first raised suspicions about Whitehead's qualifications in April 2007, after he used the title "Dr" in his work.  Whitehead said he had studied at the University of London and King's College, but the institutions had no record of him being awarded a Master's or PhD, and the British Psychological Society had no record of his membership.

When his employer asked for proof of his qualifications, Whitehead produced a poorly fabricated and undated PhD certificate, along with his genuine degree document.

NHS Counter Fraud Service head of operations Allan Carter said "It was particularly unacceptable when those qualifications are of a clinical nature. This could cause real risks to the care of patients".

Mr Carter said: "I would urge all health bodies to undertake robust pre-employment checks regardless of the previous roles people claim to have done."

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India - State government dismisses 15,000 teachers with fake qualifications
28 December 2008

The Bihar State government in India has sacked 15,000 teachers for having submitted fake degrees and certificates to gain employment.  The qualifications of another 15,000 teachers are under investigation.

It undertook an audit of the qualifications amid complaints about the sale of fake degrees for teaching positions. The high grades on the academic transcripts had also raised doubts about their veracity.

During the investigation, officials also detected forged certificates issued in the name of reputable universities.

More recently, the Government received 10 million applications for 93,000 teaching positions and these too will now be scrutinised.

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Unqualified Qantas engineer cleared aircraft to fly 12,000 passengers
17 December 2008

An unqualified Qantas engineer signed off on the safety of more than 1000 international flights in a nine month period without having a licence to do so. The man had been responsible for signing off on maintenance, which allowed aircraft to then be classified safe to fly. The planes subsequently carried more than 12,000 passengers between Australia, Europe and North America.

Timothy Leslie McCormack, age 27, forged his aircraft maintenance engineer's licence without having passed the relevant Civil Aviation Safety Authority exams.  McCormack was not only responsible for certifying aircraft but also authorised more junior, unlicensed engineers to send aircraft on their way.  

After one of his supervisors noticed he was carrying out more senior work he became concerned McCormack was not getting paid enough. The supervisor asked McCormack to produce his qualifications so he could investigate whether McCormack was entitled to back pay. McCormack produced 10 fake exam documents and a forged licence.  Irregularities with his licence were discovered and he resigned from Qantas when confronted in August 2007.

McCormack was convicted in Sydney of 42 charges of deception and today sentenced to three  years and five months imprisonment.

Prior to sentencing McCormack had submitted four character references to the Court, but like his engineer's licence, these too were found to have been forged.

The Judge questioned how it had been possible that McCormack had been able to "masquerade'' as a licensed engineer for so long without being detected by Qantas management.

Qantas previously relied on the honesty of employees in checking their Civil Aviation Safety Authority qualifications because the Authority will not pass on information, citing privacy concerns. The airline in now lobbying the Authority to release information about its employees.

PVL Update (14 January 2009): McCormack was today sentenced to an extra four months in prison after being convicted of nine charges of theft.  He stole  $1800 from the Qantas social club during 2006.

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Independent verification agency stops 6,700 health workers in 5 years
23 May, 2007

The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, an independent verification agency, prevented more than 6,700 health workers in Saudi Arabia from practicing in the last five years, of which 99.99 percent were foreigners.

Among those prevented from working were 572 people with fake certificates - mainly people claiming to be nurses and X-ray technicians.

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UK - Conman masqueraded as expert Psychologist in 700 criminal cases
22 February 2007

A man who appeared as an expert defence witness in hundreds of court cases has been revealed to be a conman who duped judges, barristers and their clients for over 27 years.

Gene Anthony Morrison, a 48 year-old Jamaican-born resident of Cheshire earned over £250,000 (NZ$630,000) giving evidence from the witness box and writing reports for the courts, when in fact , his years of experience were entirely fictitious and his qualifications purchased by mail order from non-existent universities.

Police are now having to reassess all 700 cases in which Morrison gave evidence, looking for possible miscarriages of justice. The cases involved armed robbery, rape, death by dangerous driving, unexplained death and drugs offences.

Morrison, who is believed to have fathered up to nine children by a number of different women, told police he began working as an investigator in 1977 after spotting an advert in a detective magazine offering degrees for purchase from “Rochville University” in the United States. He told the Court it looked easier than going to a real university - and he could even choose his own grades and preferred year of graduation.

One Police Officer investigating Morrison’s claims contacted “Rochville University” himself and was approved for a degree in chemistry simply by saying he had worked behind the counter of a pharmacy when he was younger.

Gene Morrison was convicted of 20 offences including perverting the course of justice and perjury. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment.

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UK - Psychiatrist concealed misconduct enquiry
18 January 2007

A former psychiatrist in New Zealand was charged in England with manslaughter through negligence over the suicide of a patient, who overdosed on painkillers when he was working at West Cumberland Hospital.

Peter Fisher was previously a psychiatrist in three New Zealand cases which involved deaths, including that of a paranoid schizophrenic who broke into his mother’s home and stabbed her to death the day after Fisher had discharged him.

Fisher returned to England and took up a position at West Cumberland Hospital without disclosing that he was under investigation in New Zealand for professional misconduct. Despite not being registered to work as a psychiatrist in England he was nonetheless put in charge of the mental health ward at West Cumberland Hospital.

The New Zealand Medical Practitioners' Disciplinary Tribunal subsequently found Fisher guilty of 17 counts of professional misconduct, suspended him for six months, ordered he pay $86,411 costs and for the next three years only practice psychiatry under strict supervision.

The jury found Fisher not guilty of the manslaughter charge. After the verdict it emerged Dr Fisher was being investigated over another death. The British Medical Council was powerless to bring professional charges against Fisher as he was not registered with them.

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USA - White House Lawyer practiced law for 23 years without a license.  
10 October 2007

A senior Air Force lawyer who served at the White House and in a senior position in Iraq practiced law for 23 years without a license.

Col. Michael D. Murphy was the General Counsel for the White House Military Office from 2001 to January 2003, and from August 2003 to early 2005. In between those tours, he was the legal adviser to the reconstruction effort in Iraq and later served as Commandant of the Air Force Judge Advocate General School in 2005

He was relieved of his command after the Air Force learned that he had been disbarred for professional misconduct in Texas in 1984 but hadn't informed his superiors. Texas disbarred Murphy, first for seven years in August 1983, then permanently in 1985, for professional misconduct. He was also disbarred by the state of Louisiana in 1984 for lying under oath in saying he had never been sued (Texas had sued him as part of that disbarment) or subject to disciplinary action as a lawyer.

Murphy had been able to practice without a license because while the US Air Force required all lawyers to be members in good standing, until now it had operated on an honour system of “self-certification”.

In the wake of this case, all US Air Force lawyers were given two weeks to show their immediate supervisors “visual proof” that they held a valid law license from an accredited bar association. Murphy has bee committed for a general court-martial.

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USA - CEO of RadioShack quits over false CV
22 February 2006

David Edmondson, President and CEO of RadioShack, the large US electronics chain, resigned when it was uncovered that he had exaggerated his academic record.  The résumé used by Edmondson when he was hired by RadioShack in 1994, stated he earned a bachelor’s degree in theology and psychology from the Pacific Coast Baptist College, but the university never offered a psychology program, and Edmondson never stayed long enough to earn any degree.

When challenged, following his promotion to the CEO position in 2005, Edmondson initially persisted with the fraud by stating that his CV was correct, but was ultimately forced to admit that it was not.

RadioShack said that when Edmondson was hired as a vice president in 1994, the company routinely checked criminal records, credit ratings and employment background of job applicants, but not their academic records.

Edmondson received a cash payout worth at least $1.03 million, following his resignation.

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Australia - Lies of Sydney airport workers exposed
13 May 2005

Three to four Sydney airport workers each week are caught lying or not declaring criminal convictions when applying for jobs. In one instance, one potential worker from New Zealand claimed to have no criminal record but was found to have been convicted of a large number of violence-related offences.

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UK - Taxi driver made millions posing as psychiatrist
29 January 2005

In England, a former taxi driver who posed as a psychiatrist, making more than £1.5 million treating patients and helping hundreds of asylum-seekers to remain in Britain has been jailed for ten years.

Barian Baluchi, 43, whose only other jobs before turning to medicine had been as a waiter and working in a dry-cleaning shop, was told by Judge Henry Blacksell that the scale of his crime “falls into new territory”.

Baluchi, who pleaded guilty to 30 representative charges related to his deception, had bought a PhD from the United States and adopted the identity of a real doctor whose registration had lapsed. He reinstated the registration and later advised the Medical Council of a change of name, reinventing himself in the late 1990’s as “Professor Barian Samuel Baluchi, MB, ChB, MSc, PhD, consultant psychiatrist and neuro-psychiatrist”.

His entirely faked CV claimed he had trained at the universities of Sussex, Leeds, Newcastle, Colombia and Harvard. Despite a total lack of qualifications, Baluchi also repeatedly gave evidence in court as a psychiatric expert, including a case in which a sex attacker was jailed for life in 2003, and whether a man was mentally fit to stand trial.

He also frequently gave “expert” opinion at the Immigration Appeals Tribunal and prepared hundreds of often critical reports about the mental trauma that asylum-seekers would suffer if sent home. Baluchi produced so many reports on behalf of immigrants, and the reports were so similar, that he aroused the suspicions of an immigration official.

The National Health Service was forced to write to more than 2,000 people on his clinic files warning them of the situation. The Home Office said it would not be reviewing any of the 2,000 asylum cases Baluchi had been involved in.

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Overseas Articles

Lying on your Resume - What are the career consequences?
By Kim Isaacs, Monster Resume Expert  

An HR initiative requiring employees to furnish college transcripts revealed Mary lied about having a master's degree. It wasn't lack of a degree that cost Mary her job; it was her dishonesty.  view article»

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Experts expect résumé fraud to rise
29 May 2009 – ieee Spectrum

In an economic downturn, the temptation to pad CV's is strong.

More employers are now doing stricter background checks on their potential employees.  view article»

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Hard job to spot recruits’ fake CVs
18 January 2009 - TimesOnline

People are prepared to go to a lot of effort to get a job, particularly at a time like this when positions are scarce and a rash of redundancies mean that qualified candidates have swamped the market. Expensive paper for the CV, a new suit, perhaps even a session or two with a career coach before the interview are often used to make sure it all goes well.

Or, if that seems like too much work, creating a fictional work history complete with an imaginary master’s degree and glowing reference written by a friend using a fake name. view article»

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When it comes to CV's honesty is the best policy
5 December 2008 – RTÉ Jobs

The recent downturn in the economy and the impact this has had on the job market has meant that changing jobs has now become a much more labour intensive process, and competition for new jobs is more fierce than ever. Little wonder, therefore, that CV fraud increases in more challenging economic times.  view article»

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Fake CVs reach an all-time high
2 February 2008, The Independent, South Africa

Companies taking on new staff should be vigilant because fraudulent curriculum vitae accompanying job applications have reached epidemic proportions in South Africa.  

The overall number of potential employees lying on their CVs has soared from 36.5 percent in 2005 to an astounding 49.4 percent in 2006.
 view article»

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South Korea hunts diploma cheats
2 December 2007 - Bloomberg.com

Korean authorities are pursuing credential cheats across the country after revelations that public figures, ranging from a Buddhist monk to an actress, falsified academic certificates. Prosecutors say they have investigated 120 cases of diploma fraud since July. Companies have been lax in checking jobseekers' backgrounds, partly due to their past practice of selecting people through recommendations.
 view article»

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USA - Errors in Your Hiring Process Can Lead to Big Trouble …
How to Avoid Costly Hiring Mistakes
4 December 2007

According to a recent study conducted by J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc., the nation’s leading provider of risk and regulatory management solutions, 55% of 161 HR professionals surveyed said they have discovered outright lies on resumes or applications when conducting pre-employment background or reference checks.  view article»

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USA - Straight talk on a tough subject for job seekers - Résumé Fraud  
20 September 2007 – The Leland Tribune

Regardless of the job market climate and regardless of the level of the person, personal integrity matters and it counts on a résumé. view article»

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USA - More companies are investigating their potential employees
13 March 2007 – The Columbus Dispatch

Companies have a liability issue if they aren’t thoroughly checking employees. view article»

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UK - Clients call for tougher CV checks
10 January 2007 – The Recruiter by Colin Cottell

The tendency of job seekers to "enhance" their CVs is encouraging greater scrutiny. A recent survey by The Risk Advisory Group an employee screening firm, found the number of CVs containing discrepancies is increasing - it now stands at more than 50% - and the inconsistencies are becoming more serious. Most clients are prepared to wait rather than accept improperly screened people. view article»

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UK - The CV Detectives  
12 October 2006 - Simple Talk by Richard Morris

A recent survey found that more people in UK technology lie about their qualifications than in any other sector. view article»

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CV Fraud: NZ

CV Fraud: Overseas

Theft As A Servant: NZ

Theft As A Servant: Overseas

Employer Failure: NZ

Employer Failure: Overseas