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Graduates face jail over CV lies

Johannesburg - The Southern African Fraud Prevention Service and a prominent background screening company have both warned prospective job seekers planning to lie about their qualifications that they are committing a serious act of fraud and that they could be facing jail should employers choose to prosecute.

Carol Mcloughlin of the prevention service warned job seekers that CV fraud was a criminal offence and that perpetrators could end up with criminal records.

She said last year alone 1751 cases on employee fraud had been listed on the organisation’s Shamwari fraud database.

Senior officials

This database is available to members of the SAFPS to check whether the person they are dealing with has been listed for fraudulent activity.

Jenny Reid CEO of iFacts background screening company said there was a flood of forged and fraudulent qualifications doing the rounds in South Africa and that many senior officials in both government and the private sector had been guilty of fudging those qualifications.

"Most perpetrators laugh it off when they’re caught claiming it was an ‘oversight’ or a ‘mistake’ when the hard reality is that they have committed an act of fraud for which they could spend time in jail or at the least, end up with a criminal record."

Recent examples include the SABC where the National Prosecuting Authority has raised questions about the validity of the matric certificate of newly appointed COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

Fraudulent qualifications

Danie Strydom, CEO of qualifications verification company QVS, said job seekers should not view lying on their CV as harmless since employers were fully within their rights if it they chose to prosecute employees for fraud.

"Fraud is a serious offence and if found guilty an accused could at the very least end up with a criminal record which could haunt him or her for the rest of their lives."

Strydom concurred with Reid that there were many fraudulent qualifications doing the rounds in South Africa.

"Our biggest problem is the fact that some candidates fudge their own qualifications by adding subjects they had not studied or increasing their symbols. The other problem concerns forged degrees and diplomas that are available on the internet.

"These forged qualifications are often printed on high quality paper and lately even include holograms and seals of the universities that they claim to come from."

Strydom said about 13% of all qualifications verified by QVS turned out to be "problematic.

Every aspect

"One of the major problems we face in South Africa is massive unemployment and job seekers will go to any lengths to try and secure a position even if it means that they have to lie on their CVs or falsify their qualifications.

It is imperative that employers verify all qualifications that are tendered by prospective employees and check every aspect of their CVs."

Strydom warned that fraudsters were always on the lookout for ways and means to infiltrate organisations to illegally benefit from an appointment.


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