Harrods jobs scam convictions will deter potential fraudsters, says SAFER chair
11 November 2013
The chair of SAFER, the recruitment industry body tasked with combating employment fraud, has welcomed the conviction of four fraudsters at the Old Bailey last Friday.
Mon, 11 Nov 2013The chair of SAFER, the recruitment industry body tasked with combating employment fraud, has welcomed the conviction of four fraudsters at the Old Bailey last Friday.
Keith Rosser, who is also head of screening and compliance services at Reed, tells recruiter.co.uk: “This outcome will help to deter potential fraudsters from targeting jobseekers in future. It is a positive step in demonstrating how seriously employment fraud is viewed by law enforcement agencies.”
Rosser’s comments follow the conviction of Ajibola Akinlabi, Olalekan Awosile, Tyrone Ellis and Damilare Oduwole, all from South London, after a two-month trial. The four along with another defendant, who pleaded guilty to the fraud, which saw jobseekers lose around £1m, are due to be sentenced on Thursday.
A spokesperson for Gumtree, where the fraudsters posted many of the fictitious jobs, tells recruiter.co.uk: “We do everything in our power to ensure that our site is as safe as possible for all our users. We provided all the information available to the police in this case which occurred in 2010. In the past three years, Gumtree has developed increased security measures aimed at preventing this type of fraud.”
In September this year, shortly after the trial began, Gumtree told recruiter.co.uk that the company had beefed up security on its site so that the same scam couldn’t happen again.
A spokesperson for Harrods, tells recruiter.co.uk: “Harrods is extremely pleased this criminal gang has been brought to justice. We sympathise with the individuals that believed they had applied for a job at Harrods but instead became victims of fraud.
“We would like to confirm that we do not use Gumtree to recruit for positions at Harrods, and those looking for employment at the store should visit harrodscareers.com.”
Keith Rosser, who is also head of screening and compliance services at Reed, tells recruiter.co.uk: “This outcome will help to deter potential fraudsters from targeting jobseekers in future. It is a positive step in demonstrating how seriously employment fraud is viewed by law enforcement agencies.”
Rosser’s comments follow the conviction of Ajibola Akinlabi, Olalekan Awosile, Tyrone Ellis and Damilare Oduwole, all from South London, after a two-month trial. The four along with another defendant, who pleaded guilty to the fraud, which saw jobseekers lose around £1m, are due to be sentenced on Thursday.
A spokesperson for Gumtree, where the fraudsters posted many of the fictitious jobs, tells recruiter.co.uk: “We do everything in our power to ensure that our site is as safe as possible for all our users. We provided all the information available to the police in this case which occurred in 2010. In the past three years, Gumtree has developed increased security measures aimed at preventing this type of fraud.”
In September this year, shortly after the trial began, Gumtree told recruiter.co.uk that the company had beefed up security on its site so that the same scam couldn’t happen again.
A spokesperson for Harrods, tells recruiter.co.uk: “Harrods is extremely pleased this criminal gang has been brought to justice. We sympathise with the individuals that believed they had applied for a job at Harrods but instead became victims of fraud.
“We would like to confirm that we do not use Gumtree to recruit for positions at Harrods, and those looking for employment at the store should visit harrodscareers.com.”
- For more on what SAFER is doing to combat the growing problem of employment fraud, please see November’s issue of Recruiter, out this week.
