New employee is a fake, where to go from here?

[londonnotlangdon]

It's a large organisation and I just had to send off her paperwork, passport, things like that

She was given the job after her second interview last week.

However, she has emailed me these documents (fine), and her birth certificate says born in September 2002?

That makes her 19?

This is a problem because, for example, her CV says she was an Executive Assistant to a Director in 2018? When she would've been in school?!

I've asked HR, who haven't replied properly, I've asked them to call. But someone replied to my email of concern with 'so you don't want this new me ever of staff? Why not?'

What can actually be done about this?

She's either a prodigy or a sociopath, good luck finding out which. I love a good mystery 🧐🤔

Ooh. How interesting

ask for exam certificates for more clarity

Don't think so. We are quite boring. Think bread

Depends if they had the Sheldon Cooper mindset, yes unlikely but theirs always the possibility

Yes sounds like fraud then. You need go spell this out to HR, copying in your seniors.

How would that then match DOB on her driving license?

Is her name Anna Delvey?

seriously, she really doesn’t sound legit, the references are fake, she’s deliberately chosen folded companies. She’s hoping no-one checks the birth certificate closely.

she might even be a journalist trying to see how well employers check information.

Hmm surely it isn't legal for a journo to do that

The issue aside of the mismatched timeline,
If the person seems to have the skill set needed, what about the possibility of a trial and see if the skill set transpires ?

This is one reason that the old system of written references, detailing who you are and what you did and how well, is so much better than what you have now. We have it in Germany (applying for jobs here is... well, if you include your first grade swimming certificate i don't think anyone would bat an eyelid) and if you have any gaps you really have to explain them well. I use references (at nearly 60) that i was given by people who are now long dead. They all say I'm bloody fantastic, consistently with every reference. Telephone or email follow up is also likely for your most recent employment.

This kind of thing wouldn't happen here.

Ok now I’ve read about the emails not matching up, add this to the first two companies she worked for no longer being around and everything else, I’m back in the ‘she’s a fraud’ box.

Have you looked her up on Linked in?

If it's folded companies, my guess would be an agent building a cover profile to operate in that region,

Thank you to the poster who advised the website Who.net

It doesn't check out. The registered company house and the address on that doesn't match

*2/3 no longer exist but she said she managed to give us a reference from the one before last because she had contact with her ex boss. We were happy to take that, and the alternative, as advised by HR at the time, was to just Accept the one reference we could've got at the time from the company still standing

But if you look on their website, the emails don't add up.

So obviously each department in that company will work differently but for example the email she gave is '[email protected] and their other contact emails are things like [email protected]*

Clearly fake references. The job offer has to be withdrawn.

It's not discrimination to question it, ID checks are in place for a reason but I'd go via HR. Say to them you've seen x and y document via email but have concerns as the DOB doesn't tally with the experience on the CV and you are unsure how to proceed. They should be able to give some professional advice and also covers your arse if they say its fine and turns out not to be you can keep the email correspondence from them.

Junior assistant? Was it to a newsagent?

She doesn't have one

You are going to have problems either way with this one - so I would ask HR to withdraw the offer.

either a) you have accidentally taken on a 19 year old - recently one of my colleagues did this, an emergency covid hire situation, one interviewer rather than the usual two. Very very confidant 19 yo who didn't lie but basically hugely talked up a Saturday job, work experience and her 1st proper job (which she had only been in 6 months). It was a car crash as she could talk the talk but not walk the walk. Our own fault for not doing the full due diligence. She fortunately left after a year, but was on the way to being dismissed due to lack of competence.

or b) you have a person involved in fraud - not good, and you will be able to dismiss anyway for being untruthful, but you don't really want to be in that situation in any case. There are very many highly professional people with dubious backgrounds and do not touch with a barge pole. Different company many years ago I had an employee not turn up at work as they were in prison (I kid you not). Very professional highly skilled individual, no issues with them doing their job, highly thought of - £50k a year job (20 years ago) . We had had a couple of incidents where he went missing for a few days or weeks "got stuck on holiday abroad" and "had an emergency appendix operation" which later turned out to be arrests, being held in police custody, and court appearances. He turned out to be involved in high net value professional shoplifting, fraudulent credit cards, part of a far eastern gang pretty much living a double life. Such a shame as a very intelligent man but the criminal activities basically scuppered what would have been a high flying and high paying career.

It's not impossible.

My daughter's current job title is Digital Communications Manager. She works for a local charity who she previously volunteered for.

Her manager is soon to be going on an extended period of holiday so she will be standing in for her managing funding allocations with the support of the trustees. She has also just brokered a deal with an IT company that featured on Dragon's Den recently for a reciprocal arrangement of services at a reduced cost.

She's 17! I don't know how she does it tbh, but she's just a very bright, determined young woman!

Your employee has got through 2 interviews (were you not involved as her line manager?) and HR don't seem to be concerned...why not just give her a chance? Surely the most important thing is that she can do the job.

Trust your gut if something feels off - I'm senior HR and have encountered some absolute whoppers of lies on cv's which got caught out with additional questions or checking. I've also seen some very good fake documents including some very convincing passports and visa stamp (harder now with the biometric cards which are difficult to replicate).

You or HR need to see the original documents including educational certificates and then verify them with the issuing authorities. If possible speak on phone with referees, having located them yourself, then check their own authenticity by ringing the main switchboard to confirm they work there. It is tricky when a previous employer has gone under but finding a previous manager can be done via linked in etc

If HR are being unhelpful escalate to a more senior HR person. It's often quite junior people doing employment checks and they aren't always very well trained or tend to follow a rigid process without much questioning.

Ask her, explain you’re a bit confused by the dates as she was sitting GCSEs and working in a specific role at same time.

there might be some reason, taking GCSEs early or late or dropping our of mainstream education. Being there as year 10 work experience which rolled into employment. Going to work for a family friend within the company.

the email sounds dodgy though. Best phone and talk to both references in person

I think the only thing you can do is call her in for a chat, say look I see you were born in 2002 which makes you 19. Can you give some more detail/clarity on the jobs you had when you would have been 15, how did you combine that with education? Ask her if she was in education post GCSEs and if not, why not? This isn't discriminatory but you need answers to these questions before you can proceed any further with the offer.

At 40k a year you need answers!

You need to call HR, not wait for them to call you. Explain the situation and make it clear that this person cannot be appointed. Then do the same with your boss.