A recruitment agency boss who took money from job hunters but failed to find them any work has been banned from operating for 10 years – the maximum possible term.

Adrian Farmer ran three internet recruitment agencies and attracted job hunters with promises of work opportunities overseas.

Farmer’s websites, the Overseas Recruitment Services Bureau, Recruitment Services International and Amtrak International Services, asked recruits to pay a membership fee to find details of jobs.

But an employment tribunal heard that as soon as jobseekers paid the fee, Farmer, who operated from premises in Aberystwyth and Camarthen, stopped all contact.

The Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate took action against Farmer following complaints from people who had lost money without finding any work.

The tribunal in Cardiff earlier this month heard that police had also prosecuted Farmer in 2001 using evidence collected by the DTI. He was then sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to five charges of deception at Swansea Crown Court.

Employment minister Gerry Sutcliffe said: “The DTI will come down hard on any agency that flouts the law. This maximum 10-year ban serves as a message to rogue employment agents that they won’t get away with exploiting workers.”

Under the Employment Agencies Act 1973, it is illegal for an agency to demand or receive fees from jobseekers for finding them work.

•Anyone with a complaint about an agency should contact the Employment Agency Standards Action Line on 0845 955 5105.