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.

How does this affect your life OP?

I think this happens a lot, because employers rarely check. The other issue is people paying for essays, dissertations etc.
When my DC were at university they told me that it was very common, especially among overseas students.
DS1 did tell me about a couple of people who got very well paid jobs on the back of degrees they had bought.
It wouldn't be possible in fields like medicine, but I can see that it would be easy to do in some fields.

Is the qualification required by law to do what he is doing?

I don't know. It would be required by his employers.

What sort of area of work is it?

I still don't see what you hope to achieve?

Surely if he's been sued the fact that he's not qualified would have come out?

Drop an anonymous note to the employer. They can check whether he has a degree or not.

I wouldn't bother.

It's really common. Especially with men I've noticed. I've never had my qualifications checked for a job.

Obviously if it's endangering anyone like someone pretending to be a doctor then of course yes but otherwise I would just have to be looking at a letter or email when he was present and casually say 'oh I didn't know you had a degree Steve - when did you get that then?'.

It's not just medical issues. Someone giving financial advice saying they've got an Honours degree in Economics when in fact they failed Mathss GCSE. Someone offering to do your tax return based on a fake Accounting degree. Someone saying they have a Law degree and offering legal advice. Someone working as a "planning consultant" giving you expertise on current building regs because they're claiming expertise in construction or quantity surveying.

Exactly. It is covered by one of those examples.

Thanks for the tip about the higher education board.

It depends on what other qualifications they have. For example, you could fail Maths GCSE at school but go on to do a maths degree and become a maths teacher.

Wait
He’s been sued several times?

Well in that case this would have all come out in the open. He would have been asked to prove his qualifications

I'm confided, how do you know that in all this time he hasn't gone back to uni to complete the degree?

Surely if he's been sued the fact that he's not qualified would have come out?

He was sued on the technicalities of the situation. Why he made the mistake was not part of the case.

But why are you taking it upon yourself to do this? What is the result going to be? If he loses his job will it impact your sister?

Could he have done an OU course that you don't know about? Most professional jobs where specific qualifications are needed require extra certification like chartership or a master's so even if he doesn't have a degree it's probably not the end of the world. Pretty annoying though if you think he's bullshitting and profiteering from his lie. I'd still keep out of it, you can't come out of it looking good.

Call the employer anonymously and tell them. Let them check.

If the job is under the HCPC then they need to be informed,ASAP.

The HCPC website has a list of professions that are legally protected.

I think you should mind your own business. You clearly have too much time on your hands.

So if he’s continued in the profession despite being sued then you can be confident he does have the qualifications

And presumably he wasn’t successfully sued if he’s continued to practice?

And yy. ..how do you know 100% he doesn't have it?

If the qualification is required by law then you would be able to find that out on Google. (Or even quicker, just be more specific and ask here.)

If the qualification is required by his employer or by law then they should have checked his certificates do actually exist.

Most roles requiring specific skills through a Professional body will demand that someone does Continuous Professional Development. If it's a defined skill (e.g. Accountant) then you can look up membership via the Professional body he says he is a member of.

I'm not sure why you particularly have it in for this guy, but surely there is a chance that you're wrong, e.g. he retook some exams or did an open university or other course to her qualified at a later point?

You say he’s been sued “several times”

He would have been asked to prove his stated qualifications at least once

There are others too not just heath professionals.

A quick Google of the subject area and awarding/accrediting bodies should give you more information.

If someone finds out then he could lose his job and be blacklisted from the profession. This impacts my sister directly.

So if I knew for sure, I'd advise her to tell him to remove the reference from his communication.

Is it your sister's partner? Otherwise I cannot see how this would directly impact on your DS and her life?

I think that if this was likely to directly lead to people being harmed (eg if he is in health related field, or responsible for security/safety etc) then I would feel morally obliged to raise it with his employers or professional body. But otherwise, I would leave it - it is his employers responsibility to ensure that they employ people who are appropriately qualified.

If this person is not your DS's partner, how is it likely to impact on her? Also, presumably she has known then as long or longer than you - so she must be aware of the deception too?