Fraud by Employer (HR catfish!)

[StephanieHooper]

Hi all,

I applied to my current company through LinkedIn for a role posted by their HR Officer.
My contract was sent to me from his internal email account where his email signature also stated he was the HR officer.

During my time at the role it has come to light that this is a false person created by the director presumably to make the company seem larger/more professional.

During my time there there have been some large oversights on HR issues (eg BUPA cover not being provided as agreed) but there is no one to discuss this with as there is no HR department.

Internally we joke about getting Nev and Max on the case but in all seriousness I think this is fraud?
It's so unusual that I haven't been able to find any help online.

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated, thank you

It is not a protected title and not uncommon to have directors with multiple responsibilities in smaller businesses. It might be tricjy to prove the persona on email never existed. Is the companies house registration correct? I would wonder what other corners are bring cut, ie NI payments. Might be worth checking yours is as expected. Who is responsible for payroll, do they not organise benefits in kind?

This is bizarre.

What would happen if you emailed the account of the non existent HR person? Presumably it is monitored.

Hopefully you will get more useful advice Op.

@Motnight

This is bizarre.

What would happen if you emailed the account of the non existent HR person? Presumably it is monitored.

Hopefully you will get more useful advice Op.

Thanks @Motnight, the email is monitored by the director so he'd reply 'in character'. I have access to the HR systems and he is not on there or on Teams so it is literally just the email and LinkedIn.

@LIZS

It is not a protected title and not uncommon to have directors with multiple responsibilities in smaller businesses. It might be tricjy to prove the persona on email never existed. Is the companies house registration correct? I would wonder what other corners are bring cut, ie NI payments. Might be worth checking yours is as expected. Who is responsible for payroll, do they not organise benefits in kind?

Thanks @LIZS

The companies house registration seems correct although I'm no expert.
The payslips, NI payments etc are ok.

I haven't tried payroll but I think they would refer me back to the director.

I am in the process of leaving, but feel I should see if there's anything I can do to stop them duping my replacement.

I can't see they've done anything wrong

I run my own company and I'm finance director, IT director, CEO and HR director depending on what hat I'm wearing - I also have different emails for each purpose.

Keeps the inboxes organised.

Nothing illegal or underhand about it. Would not having a HR director have affected your decision to take the job? I wouldn't have thought so

@Rabblesthecat

I can't see they've done anything wrong

I run my own company and I'm finance director, IT director, CEO and HR director depending on what hat I'm wearing - I also have different emails for each purpose.

Keeps the inboxes organised.

Nothing illegal or underhand about it. Would not having a HR director have affected your decision to take the job? I wouldn't have thought so

Well it is against the terms of the LinkedIn agreement for a start as it's a false name, false qualification and used to gather confidential applicant information.

Have you checked the HR person isn't an external person or company?

Some companies use outside people/companies for HR or secretarial stuff as well as more commonly payroll but don't actually reveal they are external you can just work it out.

Did it include a qualification? That would be a problem.

Or is it just the job title that you’re inferring = an HR qualification?

@Chewbecca

Did it include a qualification? That would be a problem.

Or is it just the job title that you’re inferring = an HR qualification?

Thanks @Chewbecca, yes there is a qualification on the LinkedIn profile.

Is the name the same?

Bob Smith Head of Stuff
Bob Smith Head of HR

Or have they made up a name? An imaginary person but who is actually Bob Smith.

An HR qualification e.g. CIPD? If CIPD is being used fraudulently, they’d definitely be interested.

Report to LinkedIn.

What a weird set up.

How odd, I agree that having multiple email addresses all answered by the same person isnt that odd in a small business but to pretend that the fictitious has a recgnised qualification isn't on.

@cismyfatarse
Different names, a completely made up person.

@chewbecca
Not a CIPD but a degree from a recognised university

Do you know the degree is a lie?

@AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair

How odd, I agree that having multiple email addresses all answered by the same person isnt that odd in a small business but to pretend that the fictitious has a recgnised qualification isn't on.

Multiple email addresses yes, but one person pretending to be two entirely separate people with different names isn't.

If he makes something up like that for no reason, it makes me wonder what else he's doing. Multiple sets of accounts?

Are you sure it's not a subcontracted service? Not unusual to outsource HR in a small business but present as part of the team.

@chewbecca @bookgirl1982
This isn't a master of disguise, it's a fake 30 yr old man who writes with the exact turn of phrase as our 60 yr old director.

I've known external HR recruiters working within companies and they are always willing to speak on the phone.

It’s just everything you have written is a little vague so it is difficult to work out what’s what and whether there is a problem or not.

If you are going to make a complaint, you need to be very clear what the fraudulent activity is and remove all the fluff such as the turn of phrase someone writes with.

And the director doesn't have this qualification?

The whole thing sounds weird

I was just interested in finding out the implications if it is a fake person rather than needing help finding out if it is.

Thanks to everyone that replied.

Sadly OP, the reality is nothing would happen unless the fake person was signing off something that needed a specific qualification and this is not the case with CIPD.

You could email CIPD who will investigate but all that is likely to happen is they remove CIPD.