BackCheck, the UK’s largest background checking operations team, warns all employers to learn a lesson from the conviction at Liverpool Crown Court this month of an employee who stole £629,000 from her employers.
Chris Hawkins, the assistant vice president of operations for BackCheck, said, “This is all too common, 21% of the UK population has a criminal record, and unless employers check this before they hire new staff, they have no way of knowing exactly who they’re hiring.”
BackCheck runs hundreds of thousands of pre-employment screenings each year and finds that it is not uncommon for potential employees to lie on their CV in all areas, from their criminal history to their employment and educational history.
For this reason, BackCheck urges companies to carry out some basic checks before they hire their staff.
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Hawkins went on to say, “A basic reference and criminal history check would have shown this woman’s criminal history, and a future employer could have made an informed decision as to whether or not to hire her, and could potentially have saved themselves hundreds of thousands of pounds.’
The Court was told she had stolen from four employers, by creating fictitious employee records and paying wages into her own account.
