The real cost of recruitment fraud

Recruitment fraud is when someone lies about their experience, qualifications, employment history or previous integrity to help gain employment. It is a serious problem which:

• denies genuine candidates the employment that they deserve
• denies employers the staff they need to do a good job
• allows fraudsters into organisations where they can then undertake wider fraud and theft
• damages the reputation of those organisations which do not undertake effective pre-employment checks
• represents a significant cost, thereby undermining the financial health of those organisations which are affected.

This report, for the first time, establishes a baseline figure for the cost of recruitment fraud. It also shows that, where it is allowed to occur as a result of no or inadequate pre-employment checks, it often leads to further fraud and theft.

Fraudsters, encouraged by successfully gaining employment through dishonesty are often motivated to attempt wider fraud within their host organisations. However, the deterrent to individuals from carrying out recruitment fraud is not complex or difficult for businesses to adopt. Effective pre-employment checks are relatively low cost and easy to commission. Specialists can check in-country, in the relevant local language, and look at local documentation.

With fraud growing by almost 50% in the last 10 years, the real question is not why would we do this, but why wouldn’t we?