City of London Police is warning recruitment agencies to be on their guard against a fraudster who is ripping off recruiters nationwide.

Letters have been sent out warning recruitment companies in the City after several firms reported falling victim to a fraud that is thought to have netted the criminal behind it in excess of £300,000. This figure could be significantly higher with unreported matters.

The fraudster sets up a fake foreign company and then contacts an agency asking for a temporary worker with a very specific set of skills (mainly languages). Within days, the agency will be sent a CV seemingly offering them someone with just that rare skill set. The false CV secures its fictitious owner a job with the non-existent overseas company and the recruitment agency pays the wages of the temporary worker.

The crime only comes to light when invoices to recover the wages are sent to the false company and not reimbursed.

The fraudster involved has used the same aliases in several crimes and companies are being asked to check their records for the following names:

*  Antonio Almeda, Anotnio Almeida or Tony D’Almeda or similar spelling
*  Bero Venturi or Berodo Venturi or similar spelling 
*  The company names ‘Myers and Myers’ and ‘hhi tekno’ have also been used.

DC Kevin Ives said: "City of London Police is aware that this fraud has cost some recruitment companies significant sums of money. We want to warn others so they can avoid becoming victims and encourage the industry to ensure robust vetting procedures and ID checks are carried out on new clients.

"We are also determined to catch the fraudster and want agencies who suspect they may have had any dealings with any of the above to report it to their local police station mentioning our enquiry."

* Have you been affected by this scam? Contact Recruiter at the website or recruiter.editorial.co.uk