False References - Help

littlespectacles

Hi All,

Looking for some advice regarding an ex employee of mine....I run a very small business and my 3 employees all work from their home on a full salaried basis.

After conducting an interview a few months ago, I referenced the candidate via email addresses provided by the candidate, both these references came back positive.....The employee then decided to leave after three months and it turns out the trust I put in them was silly as they have done completely no work despite receiving a basic salary.

I did some digging after they left and it turns out that the reference emails they provided where just two email addresses they made up in the names of their old bosses.

I have spoken to the police who were little help but did say they can pass on the information to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau , I just wondered if anyone had any experience of this ? is this just lip service and nothing will really be done....or can my now ex employee be brought up on criminal charges ?

Many Thanks for any help !

Takeaway_Addict

littlespectacles wrote: »

Hi All,

Looking for some advice regarding an ex employee of mine....I run a very small business and my 3 employees all work from their home on a full salaried basis.

After conducting an interview a few months ago, I referenced the candidate via email addresses provided by the candidate, both these references came back positive.....The employee then decided to leave after three months and it turns out the trust I put in them was silly as they have done completely no work despite receiving a basic salary.

I did some digging after they left and it turns out that the reference emails they provided where just two email addresses they made up in the names of their old bosses.

I have spoken to the police who were little help but did say they can pass on the information to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau , I just wondered if anyone had any experience of this ? is this just lip service and nothing will really be done....or can my now ex employee be brought up on criminal charges ?

Many Thanks for any help !

Stop wasting your time, effort and emotional well being on this clearly useless person.

Move on!

YouAsked

littlespectacles wrote: »

Hi All,

Looking for some advice regarding an ex employee of mine....I run a very small business and my 3 employees all work from their home on a full salaried basis.

After conducting an interview a few months ago, I referenced the candidate via email addresses provided by the candidate, both these references came back positive.....The employee then decided to leave after three months and it turns out the trust I put in them was silly as they have done completely no work despite receiving a basic salary.

I did some digging after they left and it turns out that the reference emails they provided where just two email addresses they made up in the names of their old bosses.

I have spoken to the police who were little help but did say they can pass on the information to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau , I just wondered if anyone had any experience of this ? is this just lip service and nothing will really be done....or can my now ex employee be brought up on criminal charges ?

Many Thanks for any help !

Hi,

I think from the police's response they seem to think it's a case of "yeah, um, we'll deal with that when we've caught all of the murderers" and I'm not sure it's something you should hold out much hope for. I may be wrong and someone may be able to post similar examples of where this has happened.

In terms of civil action/breach of contract, would you be looking to prove that wages should be repaid to you as they were obtained by deceiving you in terms of work done?

I'm not sure where you would get? You'd need to show that you took action to stop losses and I'm not sure that only realising after the person left that they hadn't done their job counts? Why weren't you checking on a weekly basis what was going on? Could the person argue that you were not providing direction? Clarity of instructions etc?

Hmmm dunno, you could try? But be wary of throwing good money after bad in fees etc and also the time it would cost you.

littlespectacles

Thanks for all responses, I do just want to move on and draw a line under things but I feel so appalled at being lied too.

Yes I should have checked and asked for evidence but I trusted (which I take full responsibility for)

I just would have thought that by basically impersonating someone else by creating two false emails with their name on would be a criminal offence ? (again I should have checked these out properly and they were only outlook emails not work ones, I should have called also, again my fault)

Stevie_Palimo

Post number 2 is the only answer here and nothing else would be worth while considering.

You cannot complain after the fact here as you had 3 months of them working for you and as you failed to notice within this period then the system you have in place for work that needs doing is very lapse to say the least, I have a few guys working for me from home and certainly know that they are doing what is expected of them on a daily/weekly basis.

Even if you decide to take this further then I would hazard a guess that it'll be a waste of time and money anyway and really you need to look at implementing some drastic changes to monitor what any current/future staff do so that you can make sure you are happy to pay them for work done.

Alderbank

Even if genuine, references are unlikely to tell you much more than the date when the employment commenced and how many sickness days the employee took.

It's hard to believe that you showed so little interest in your new employee that you only noticed they had done no work after they had left. It is a two way thing, you should have been in close contact from day 1 not just to confirm that they are doing work for you and doing it how you like it but also to ensure that they are supported by you and feel confident and valued.

You found them OK for the job at interview. I suspect they started with the best of intentions but when you ignored them they started looking round for a more worthwhile job

Undervalued

littlespectacles wrote: »

Thanks for all responses, I do just want to move on and draw a line under things but I feel so appalled at being lied too.

Yes I should have checked and asked for evidence but I trusted (which I take full responsibility for)

I just would have thought that by basically impersonating someone else by creating two false emails with their name on would be a criminal offence ? (again I should have checked these out properly and they were only outlook emails not work ones, I should have called also, again my fault)

Yes and yes.

However getting anything done about it is quite another matter. Realistically the police cannot investigate every potential crime that is reported to them. Like every other public body they have limited resources and have to prioritise. No two people will ever totally agree where a line should be drawn and naturally will give more importance to their particular issue.

You have not directly suffered a loss as a result of these false references. Had you closely monitored the new employee's work you would presumably have picked up the fact that "he was doing no work at all" rather sooner.

You could, in theory, mount a private criminal prosecution but in the real world move on and put it down to experience!

sangie595

Alderbank wrote: »

Even if genuine, references are unlikely to tell you much more than the date when the employment commenced and how many sickness days the employee took.

It's hard to believe that you showed so little interest in your new employee that you only noticed they had done no work after they had left. It is a two way thing, you should have been in close contact from day 1 not just to confirm that they are doing work for you and doing it how you like it but also to ensure that they are supported by you and feel confident and valued.

You found them OK for the job at interview. I suspect they started with the best of intentions but when you ignored them they started looking round for a more worthwhile job

I would agree with this. You are remarkably lax as an employer. But unless the person claimed qualifications or professional status that they did not have , such as impersonating a nurse, then there is nothing you can do - this is neither a crucial nor a civil offence. And the fact they did no work is down to you not managing your staff properly.

Move on. And get a good book about managing employees!

steampowered

If this employee sent emails purporting to be from his previous bosses, he committed the criminal offence of 'fraud by false representation'. See http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/35/section/2.

However, as you haven't suffered any demonstrable financial loss as a result of the fraud, I doubt the police would be interested. Even if the police were interested, I think it is unlikely that the CPS would decide that it is in the public interest to prosecute.

You could in theory bring a civil claim against this person for fraud (in civil law terms known as the 'tort of deceit') in the county courts, seeking damages for any financial loss you suffered as a result of the fraud. However in reality this would probably be a waste of time as I doubt you could prove financial loss.

Undervalued

sangie595 wrote: »

I would agree with this. You are remarkably lax as an employer. But unless the person claimed qualifications or professional status that they did not have , such as impersonating a nurse, then there is nothing you can do - this is neither a crucial nor a civil offence. And the fact they did no work is down to you not managing your staff properly.

Move on. And get a good book about managing employees!

I assume that is a typo and you meant criminal!

In which case I disagree that this is not a criminal offence. Technically it could well be although, as I said earlier, getting anything done about it is another matter!

The employee apparently responded to email reference requests about himself having claimed, falsely, that he had worked for these non existent companies. Or, worse, deliberately gave false email addresses for real people / companies and impersonated them by replying.

Either could be an attempt to obtain a pecuniary advantage (i.e. a job) by deception which is now incorporated into the crime of fraud.

TBagpuss

If you know that te e-mails were false the people I'd be telling are the people he inpersonated. They may want to know in caswe he is using their names in any other way, and they may be in a stronger positon to raise objections, too.