In the first half of 2014, over half of all the confirmed frauds (63 percent) recorded to the CIFAS Internal Fraud Database were Employment Application Frauds: frauds where job applicants have made serious fraudulent declarations about employment history, qualifications, criminal records and so on. 

This is 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, and – in worst case scenarios – the risk of criminal charges. The scale of the fraud also shows that organisations are running more stringent checks now than ever before. While it is of concern that there are increasing numbers of individuals who are turning to fraud in order to gain employment, it is encouraging that the proportion of applicants who were unsuccessful remained high (79 percent). This means that organisations are sifting these out before there is any chance of financial, reputational or regulatory damage being caused. The most common reason for recording unsuccessful Employment Application Frauds was the concealing of adverse credit history when the position (frequently in financial services) has a regulatory requirement of a clean credit and financial history.

For successful Employment Application Frauds, however, the main reason was the concealing of unspent criminal convictions. This is likely to be due to the time lag between an individual accepting a job and the relevant vetting and Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly CRB) checks to be completed and returned to the new employer. CIFAS Chief Executive, Simon Dukes, comments: “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, etc, 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.”