Prevent fraud – employ honest people!

A Google search for the separate words “buy cheap degree without study” generates about 7,000,000 hits. The sponsored links are for places like “Redding University” (sic) and “Hill University” where bachelors degrees can be obtained “in seven days” and “with no coursework” respectively for as little as $130. Of course it’s fun to have a chuckle about the seductive claims, eg:

Earn you a secured upper level job,
Get you a well deserved promotion, and
Boost your career potential.

but there is a serious point here too. These sites exist because people use them, and people use them because they work. A couple of years ago a well known international hotel chain was about to promote a longstanding existing employee to the main board. Because of the seniority of the new position they screened him at the time and then found he didn’t have the degrees he claimed. He was allowed to resign.

Talking to clients who have suffered a fraud, they are usually confident that new employees in their organisations are screened but unsure of what this process actually involves. My guess is that couple of written references is often as far as it goes.

When it comes to educational qualifications, few will contact the institution involved and very few will check that it is actually accredited. And the very small number who go to the lengths of phoning the institution may not realise that some websites offer a “24/7 Credentials Verification service”. One client who suffered a £2m fraud found belatedly that the mobile numbers he had spoken to for references had both been answered by the fraudster himself.

Most fraud is committed by or with the involvement of employees. Recruiting only honest employees is the obvious first step to prevent this.

I would welcome any comments you have on this topic.

Edwin Harland