To ask for help with possible qualification fraud?

[Shambu]

I've discovered a relation of a close family member is promoting himself to his clients as having an Hons degree he does not have.

I've known him for 20 years, and his qualification was a much lower status one which he didn't finish.

It is featured on his email on all communication with clients.

How would I find out? I contacted the institution to find out if they offered that course at the time, but I cannot make a request for specific information without his being informed.

I dont understand your intentions at all. You want to know if he has these qualifications not to out him, but to warn your sister about him.
He has been doing this job in a fairly high function for 20 years and has been promoted by his company. There has been court cases where this could and should have come out.

You want to protect your sister from him, - but her head is in the sand. It could all.come crashing down you say.

This is so confusing.

Sounds to me like you dont like or trust your BIL for some reason, probably nothing to with his job.

Once you have this information about your BIL's qualification what do you expect your sister to do? Leave him? Confront him? Tell him to do and OU course?

Theres more to this.

How does this affect you? What do you stand to get out of outing him?

You're hatred of this man is apparent OP.

I'm confused. He works for a company and has done for a long time? So he's employed. But OP said he was sued by 2 clients. Making it sound like he's Self employed. Which?

To all the people who say... Don't bother yourself etx etc...

He may be making massive mistakes (sounds like he is...) yes having a degree doesn't protect you from mistakes.. But makes it less likely.

People are paying for a qualified X... And it appears he isn't...

I'd be pretty pissed off if someone gets work ahead of me, as they've lied about qualifications it's taken me money /years of study to obtain....

It brings ALL the profession into disrepute... People assume that the fraudulent person is representative of that profession...

I would be tempted to tell the qualifying body of your concerns...you can do this anonymously.

The impact on your family? Well it will be a whole lot worse if he's sued for massive amounts of money... And he won't be covered on insurance (even if he has professional insurance-this will void it... Fraud does.)

I wouldn't be able to live with the fact I'd let people be conned by him by not reporting.

It's up to governing body to investigate. They will...

Oh, and for those thinking it doesn't matter and why should people care -

The fall out was BIG! It cost a lot of money.
It affected a lot of people for quite a long time after too, not just the one making fraudulent claims: her, her family, the company, some clients, etc.

Hi OP I once had a boss who lied about their qualifications.

She was a successful management consultant who was (as far as I knew and I had no reason doubt her intellect) part-way through a PhD in a business subject. We worked together for 3 years, no mention of the PhD or taking time off work to complete it so I thought perhaps she had quietly 'shelved ' it owing to the pressures of work. No biggie.

She had been on a long vacation and our director came to see.me. He asked me if I knew when she had been awarded her PhD. He & I both knew which University she studied at.
I explained the lack of information forthcoming from her about it has made me think it was still pending and not awarded. Plus most PhD students share their progress and final victory with their colleagues.

The director asked me how one could 'prove,' they had the PhD - this can be done by contacting the university and the PhD thesis tends to be available in public domain academic searches for research purposes.

She left the organisation shortly after - apparently she had been overheard bragging about her being more qualified than others in the management team because of it and didn't have it. Sad thing was she was good at her job, a great manager and had no need for this PhD qualification, ego got in the way!

How do you know? He could have achieved this through distance learning.

Because he's married to my sister.

You don't know what he has or hasn't studied through work, you don't even know what qualifications his career actually relies on, you don't apparently even know for certain that he didn't complete his original degree. Please start answering some of the very reasonable questions you're being asked OP or this is completely pointless.

OP: I caveat my comment upthread with the following warning. DO NOT “report” anything to anyone until you’re sure of all the facts and can prove it.

In my job I had to be a member of the society for insurance purposes, say I caused life changing injuries by hitting someone with equipment accidentally, then society covered millions paid out, but I needed qualification first.
Is he a member of a institute or similar? If he is a financial advisor I think you can do that without quals but would still need cover which would be hard to get without quals but degree is probably irrelevant for some of this type of work, so he might not lose job but I would report to the uni he claims to have gone to or to employer.

My penny worth is that OP has an issue with her sister. And more likely or not her sister will have an issue with her.

The OP wants to reveal to her sister that her husband is a fraud. Yet believes her sister will bluff her way out of it. Implying the OP knows her sister is aware of his supposed flaws. This is less of a reveal of the mans character and more of a I showed you now.

Messengers are usually shot. It doesn’t matter how quietly the message is put or if you sit or stand. The OP will be interfering in her sisters life in a way that is clearly unwelcome. Where this to be due to the OP coming across information accidentally then it would be unfair. The fact that the OP is investigating her BIL is beyond interfering and controlling. This is the stuff of obsessive characters in melodramatic soaps.

I also don’t understand how clients “sue” a member of staff rather than a company. Or why the company and the litigators wouldn’t check him out.

It's a bit of a weird one if it's an honours degree which is professionally qualified (a Legal Executive, Accountant etc have their own professional qualifications, albeit a BSc or BA will give additional status). E.g. a Business Degree will likely have some exemptions towards an accounting qualification, as would a Human Resources Management degree towards CIPD (the 'professionally recognised' HR qualification).

This is is good point. I don't know the implications of that particular degree professionally.

I need to talk to someone in the field to fully understand the implications.

It is illegal, under 'Obtaining a Pecuniary Advantage by Deception' which is a sub-set of the fraud legislation.

This is so worrying.

Thanks piglet for taking the time to give some excellent advice.

You don't know what he has or hasn't studied through work, you don't even know what qualifications his career actually relies on, you don't apparently even know for certain that he didn't complete his original degree.

As I have said - his original qualification was not degree level and he didn't not finish it. Of that I am certain.

I know he has studied nothing through work because my sister has said so.

You clearly can't stand 'D'BIL - own your dislike and don't hide behind your 'faux concern ' (as another poster put it)

I'm still unsure what your game plan is.
You say you are worried for.your sister if he is exposed. But you want to expose him.

OP what will you want your sister to do about this? Leave your BIL? Confront him to get a new job? Get him to finish his studies?

Rather than being worried (passive), consulting with an expert (interfering) - what are you going to do to support your sister. Usually people talk to each other, offer counsel and a listening ear, not jump to conclusions, do digging and then present facts. Do you get on with you sister?

I need to talk to someone in the field to fully understand the implications.
So you’re going to go to the trouble of doing this. Seriously I would step away from this

If your sister knows, then who are you getting the information for? See my previous questions, what are you trying to achieve?

Was it a BTEC / NVQ / Diploma? They can be converted to degrees.

But you want to expose him

Why do posters keep saying this?

What else are you doing?

You keep coming on with little snip bits but haven't actually explained anything at all. Are you going to answer my question?

Because you're not answering any of the questions as to what you want to achieve from all this

Why do posters keep saying this?

Maybe because you only answer 20% of the questions asked and your motives are inconsistent with your stated approach.

The world was a very different place 25 years ago - and it was more than possible to "work your way up". I dropped out of uni 4 years into a 5 year degree course. I still worked in the industry and worked all over the world for global names. Once in a while these days I run into someone who thinks a 22 year old wafting a piece of paper is a more valuable asset...

One of my housemates at uni is a qualified IFA - his undergrad was geography - many of you seem to think that means he's not qualified.

So it may well be OP that your BIL is working in an industry which is either NOT protected, OR he has - perhaps even 15 years ago - obtained industry-relevant qualifications and certifications.

But all of that stuff aside - you are really going to fuck up here. You want your sister to leave your BIL. How do we encourage women to leave abusive men? Do we use the softly-softly-catchy-monkey approach or do we get their husband fired?

My sister is one of my best friends.