Lying about your job title on a certificate

[myfitbitisfucked]

If someone pretended to be in a more senior and experienced role than they in fact were and did this to sign off a certificate for a course assessment what would / could happen if they were rumbled?

(it’s not me btw)

Depends on profession - Law, Medicine etc could be reported to their public body for probity and given a warning / struck off.

if it is someone in a position of ‘not much authority’ - they could be given a warning at work all the way upto sacked under gross misconduct.

I have seen it happening in both the law and medical professions - One lawyer said he had a PhD in law and called himself a Dr, nothing happened. One doctor who said he had a certain exam and used it after post-nominals was struck off. I have seen it in offices were a receptionist elects herself as the ‘office manager’ unofficially and gives references with that title but nothing has happened.

so it just depends.

I have had several mid-senior project jobs in the NHS where I was expected to create my own title because there wasn't an existing title that fitted the job. Unless its a legally protected title, it means nothing. Saying you have passed an exam when you haven't is a bit different as that can be fraud or in the case of a doctor, put someone's health, even life at risk. I had one job where I knew my supervising manager very well. When she asked me what title I would be using I said "Warrior Therapist" She said it was very apt but perhaps not corporate enough!
.....so yeah, it depends

You need to whistleblow this - HR if it’s at work, the discipline or organising body etc for the course if it’s not. If, for example, this is somebody pretending to have the requisite experience or qualifications to sign off certificates which qualify others for a particular role or are supposed to demonstrate course participants have the requisite training / have reached the requisite level for something, the certifier lying can raise significant concerns about the validity and reliability of the assessment process, and may mean the people who have been on the course don’t have the certification they believe they do.

Obviously this matters more if it’s somebody pretending they’re senior and qualified to certify e.g. food safety certification for people who work in catering or certification for safe handling of a forklift truck than if it’s a hobby tutor giving certificates to children taking violin lessons.