Employers’ advisory on fake certificates

Employers and recruitment consultants have been advised to verify educational qualifications and certificates issued by New Zealand universities after a few fake documents were discovered last month.

Auckland Police are currently investigating a series of complaints relating to forged degrees, diplomas, academic records and other documents.

They arrested three Chinese nationals, including a 27-year-old woman on charges of forgery and altering documents.

The Manukau District Court is hearing the case.

“Such false documentation may have been going on for the past three years and we believe that more than 100 sets of false documents have been produced during this period. We found Chinese names in the documents seized,” a police official said.

The false documents said that the recipient had completed the prerequisite course of studies at various New Zealand universities, he said.

Detective Inspector Stu Allsopp-Smith said police investigation had uncovered a market for forged academic qualifications. 

But according to the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (NZVCC), registries were not compromised.

Inspector Allsopp-Smith said the use of such documents was not new to New Zealand or other countries, but the risks of buying, and using such documents could have lasting effects on those who commit criminal offences by obtaining them.

“We encourage people who have obtained such documents to surrender them to their nearest police station.”

A NZVCC statement said that those keen on checking the validity of any degree or diploma may do so at the issuing university registry.

“Anyone, including potential employers, wishing to verify a university qualification should check with the awarding institution,” the statement said.

Seven years ago, John Davy, a Canadian citizen, served time for submitting false qualification certificates while applying for the post of Chief Executive at Maori Television.

The procedure followed by the recruitment agency in Wellington was sharply criticised.

Since then, most consultants have streamlined their operations.

The method of recruitment followed by consultants differs but in most cases, the elimination process (consultants would prefer to call it the selection process) begins with telephone screening and moves on to CV analysis and interviews.

Almost all firms seek proof of qualifications and conduct personality and psychometric testing.