August

A former special constable, Ryan Warmbold, applied for a job as a security guard at Manchester airport using a false referee.

He had worked at a school but was fired due to fake social media accounts set up by his ex-partner. He failed to claim this on his application.  Instead, he named his old inspector, Special Inspector Lee Gandy of Greater Manchester Police, as a referee but gave a false email address. This email address was actually owned by Warmbold who then wrote his own reference.

Warmbold started his training but when in investigators contacted Mr.Gandy directly he confirmed he had never sent an email. When the defendant attended a meeting at the airport to discuss the matter he presented them with forged documents which did not match his application. He was then suspended.

At Manchester magistrates court, Warmbold admitted fraud and was given a 24-week suspended jail sentence. Prosecutor Jo Moore stated, “This is quite a sophisticated fraud in which the defendant went to significant lengths to gain employment with security at Manchester airport”. JPs added, “This is a very serious offence which has definitely passed the custody threshold”.

Warmbold was also ordered to conduct 100 hours of community service and pay £200 court costs. He has also paid back £1,500 of wages.

Our employment history check would have revealed the false referee.

A conman who sold fake exam certificates online has been sentenced to 80 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay costs of £567.97. Ofqual discovered the conman’s website where certificates bearing the Ofqual branding and logos were being sold.

Michelle Meadows, Executive Director for Strategy, Risk & Research at Ofqual said: “Fake certificates for qualifications will not be tolerated and we have ensured that the website no longer provides these. We want people to feel secure in the knowledge that a qualification accredited by Ofqual is valid. People who are found to be selling fake certificates for qualifications or using the Ofqual logo illegally will face legal action”.

Diploma mills are a common problem. See our blog for more stories on diploma mills.

The Daily Mail recently sent an undercover reporter with fake qualifications to examine A Level papers for Oxford Cambridge and RSA (OCR). The OCR, which marks a fifth of all A-Level papers submitted in the UK, failed to do a background check and did not seek references or verify the reporter’s qualifications.

Whilst OCR stated that the reporter would have been fully screened and trained before being given access to mark papers, it did not explain why they had not conducted thorough background screening before approving the reporter’s application.

The same reporter applied for a job with a different exam board, AQA, with the same submission and was rejected when she failed to provide proof of her qualifications.

Our education qualification check will identify any candidates providing fake qualifications.