On 1st December 2020 it was reported that fraudulent activity was taking place in relation to the recruitment market, with criminals targeting jobseekers with fraudulent services.
Recruitment Fraud | Rosenblatt’s Financial Crime Team
As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, unemployment has risen and has been projected to rise to 2.6m by the end of 2021. Consequently, criminals are reportedly flooding the recruitment market with fake job advertisements, with the intention of attracting victims with the promise of fake courses or criminal record checks in return for payment. In addition, criminals are also requesting personal details with which to access their victims’ bank accounts.
There have been 800 reports of such job scams since the pandemic began, a 65% rise compared to 2019, according to SAFERjobs. It warns of two groups of industry recruitment scams: the ‘advanced fee fraud’, whereby criminals sell fake courses supposedly needed as part of the recruitment process, and the theft of personal details, such as bank details, proof of address and copies of passports, by criminals posing as prospective employers.
Keith Rosser, chair of SAFERjobs, said: “Before Covid-19, we used to say that recruitment fraud was a nasty one because it would prey on people’s hopes. But now, when there are so many people desperately looking for work and trying to put food on the table, it feels far worse and people are far more vulnerable.
“Before the pandemic, jobseekers would expect to have a face-to-face meeting in an office. But now interviews are being conducted over phone and video, which is working in the fraudster’s favour. And with so many people being desperately in need of work, they will suspend disbelief and suspicion because they so want good news to be true.”
Rosenblatt can help
Rosenblatt has a wealth of experience in financial crime and is uniquely placed to support clients that are the subject of Private Prosecutions or investigations by law enforcement having been involved in some of the most high profile investigations into multi-million-pound, cross jurisdictional fraud cases in the UK.
https://www.rosenblatt-law.co.uk/services/financial-crime/#financial-crime
https://www.rosenblatt-law.co.uk/services/serious-and-general-crime/
https://www.rosenblatt-law.co.uk/services/financial-crime/#private-prosecutions
