Whistle Blowing

AntF

I left my last job a short while ago and i'm unsure if I should whistle blow on my old employer.

Ever since I started he had been putting cracked/unlicensed software on clients computers, some of these clients are local authorities, solicitors, salvation army etc, as well as home users.

He used to sell them at full price and used the term 'digital download' whilst selling them, he created fake Microsoft receipts and used the excuse of needing the money to pay wages.

Would you contact the customers and inform them?

Undervalued

AntF wrote: »

I left my last job a short while ago and i'm unsure if I should whistle blow on my old employer.

Ever since I started he had been putting cracked/unlicensed software on clients computers, some of these clients are local authorities, solicitors, salvation army etc, as well as home users.

He used to sell them at full price and used the term 'digital download' whilst selling them, he created fake Microsoft receipts and used the excuse of needing the money to pay wages.

Would you contact the customers and inform them?

No, I would contact the software companies, the Federation Against Software Theft (or whatever FAST is called these days) and the police as doing this by way of business or trade can be a criminal offence.

Laurensalive

Would trading standards be of any help as this effects the public. Selling fake goods of any kind is an offence and I do not think the credit card companies would like it very much. Basically it is fraud.
People maybe would find out when they try to install Windows 10?

Fireflyaway

For me I wouldn't get involved unless a person had been harmed or was at risk of harm.

What he is doing is wrong but there could be other consequences. What if the business went down as a result and everyone lost their jobs etc?

asajj

Fireflyaway wrote: »

For me I wouldn't get involved unless a person had been harmed or was at risk of harm.

What he is doing is wrong but there could be other consequences. What if the business went down as a result and everyone lost their jobs etc?

Well same could be said for any other organization. Would you not report a hospital if they do something wrong ? Would you not report a shop if they are not following health and safety standards?

Selling unlicensed software isn't a white lie. If you don't have money to run a business, you simply shouldn't.

tomtontom

asajj wrote: »

Well same could be said for any other organization. Would you not report a hospital if they do something wrong ? Would you not report a shop if they are not following health and safety standards?

Selling unlicensed software isn't a white lie. If you don't have money to run a business, you simply shouldn't.

You're not comparing like for like - your examples could cause harm to an individual, the OP's situation is only affecting the profits of corporate giants.

Rosemary7391

Is it a potential security risk? Even if the software isn't dodgy in itself, I presume it won't be able to be updated as it should, which could well be a serious problem for the end user depending on their business, or even home users.

Fireflyaway

I probably would report a hospital yes - that's totally different. Someone could be harmed.

In this circumstance it doesn't seem anyone is being harmed ( other than maybe the profits of the software company). I might be tempted to if the boss was horrid but I would feel bad if innocent people lost their jobs. That could lead to all sorts of hurt to innocent people.

Undervalued

tomtontom wrote: »

You're not comparing like for like - your examples could cause harm to an individual, the OP's situation is only affecting the profits of corporate giants.

So it OK to steal from the rich but not from the poor?

Not quite sure where you draw the line with that argument.......

AntF

Fireflyaway wrote: »

For me I wouldn't get involved unless a person had been harmed or was at risk of harm.

What he is doing is wrong but there could be other consequences. What if the business went down as a result and everyone lost their jobs etc?

The business is going down, he is going to be forced into insolvency as he owes the taxman and not kept up the repayments.

I just think that maybe the customers need to know before he does finally go, at least they may have a chance in getting it resolved while he is still trading.

Mistral001

What we are talking about is criminality which appears to run into tens of thousands. By doing what this person has done he has already harmed businesses and the jobs in those businesses that the crime has been perpetrated against ie, the businesses he is stealing the software from and selling for a profit.