News: CV Fraud
New Zealand Cases
- Former Immigration CEO pleads guilty to CV fraud
- Hundreds of counterfeit NZ university degrees sold
- University employee lied about qualification
- Varnished Truths - have you been scammed?
- 30th conviction for claiming to be chiropractor
- New Zealand residents pay $20,000 for fake degrees
- Netball manager convicted of using fake degree
- Forger sentenced to four years imprisonment
- “Acupuncturist” hired over the Internet without verifying qualifications
- Police recruit found to have submitted fraudulent application
- Recruitment company recommends convicted fraudster for $75,000 job
New Zealand Articles
New Zealand Cases
Former Immigration CEO pleads guilty to CV fraud
3 February 2010
Mary-Anne Thompson, the former Head of the New Zealand Immigration Service today pleaded guilty in the Wellington District Court to one charge of CV fraud.
Thompson changed her plea to guilty in return for the three charges she was facing, being reduced to one single charge.
For almost two years, Thompson had steadfastly claimed she was not guilty of using a document for pecuniary advantage. The charges related to CV fraud allegedly committed in 1989, 1998 and 2002 when she used a false CV to secure senior Government positions by claiming to have a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE).
In an earlier depositions hearing, an official from the LSE responsible for administering its qualifications testified Thompson had enrolled in the mid 1980’s for a Masters degree but that she had never been listed as having passed anything during the relevant period, never sat the required oral examination, and that no record of a thesis existed in the university’s catalogues. A key page in her university file - which said she applied for a Masters degree, rather than a Doctorate - had the words "Treat as abandoned 21 Sept 99", written across it.
Before her appointment as Head of the Immigration Service, Thompson had been acting Head of the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet (PM&C) and the then Prime Minister had publicly stated she always understood Thompson to have had a Doctorate qualification.
The Auditor-General was asked by the Government to investigate the matter and he released his report in June 2009. In it he said uncertainty about Thompson’s claim to have a PhD first arose in April 2004 when she was being considered for the position of Head of the Prime Ministers Department. Apparently her claimed completion date of the Doctorate, in 1989, was inconsistent with other activities she was known to be involved in at that time.
She was asked to provide proof of her PhD but instead withdrew her application for the PM&C position. The State Services Commissioner then asked Thompson if she had a Doctorate degree, she said yes and the Commissioner accepted her word without independent verification.
Shortly afterwards the Commissioner retired. He failed to alert his successor to the issue, so that when Thompson applied for the Immigration CEO position the following month, for which she was subsequently appointed, there was no record of concern about her integrity. It was also noteworthy that when Thompson applied for the Immigration position, her CV no longer made any reference to her claiming to have a PhD.
The Auditor-General’s report also criticised Thompson’s Immigration appointment because her application was accepted after the closing date, she was not subject to an initial assessment interview like other applicants, she was offered the position before any reference checks had been completed and there was no documentation on the selection panel’s assessment of the applicants, nor indeed a copy of Thompson’s application.
Earlier, in October 2008, the State Services Commission (SSC) released its findings into allegations that Thompson facilitated the entry to New Zealand of family members whilst Head of Immigration.
The SSC found:
“Thompson was involved with six immigration-related procedures relating to members of her family in 2004 and 2005. Although the investigation finds no evidence that Ms Thompson's family members were seeking preferential treatment, the report is clear that her involvement resulted in them receiving personal benefits that they would not have normally received if she had not held her position in the Department.
Thompson’s behaviour was wholly inappropriate on two counts. First, it consistently breached the Department’s clearly-stated requirements for staff to disclose potential personal conflicts to their manager before taking any action. Secondly, the long-standing expectation of State servants, outlined most recently in the Code of Conduct for the State Services, is that they are trustworthy. This includes not acting in a way that may improperly benefit our family or friends or groups in which we have a personal interest".
Writer Finlay Macdonald has published an article on the Thompson case and the wider issue of CV fraud. view article»
And, Kimberley Villari of The Independent, has written an article about changes in recruitment practices within the Public Service as a consequence of Thompson's false CV. view article»
Following Thompson's guilty plea, Steve Hart writing for the New Zealand Herald, looks at the need for employers to "Check before you hire" view article»
Thompson has been remanded at large for sentencing next month. In Court today, Judge Bruce Davidson gave a sentencing indication that Thompson would be fined $10,000 and ordered to undertake 100 hours' community work.
Hundreds of counterfeit NZ university degrees sold
19 Novemebr 2009
Three Chinese nationals appeared today in the Manukau District Court charged with manufacturing and selling forged degrees, diplomas and academic records from most New Zealand universities.
Police believe that the production of the high-quality false documents may have been occurring over a period of 2 - 3 years, with more than 100 sets of documents created and sold for thousands of dollars each.
In a statement, the Police said their investigation disclosed a market existed in New Zealand for the purchase of forged academic qualifications, false Immigration letters, certificates of attainment letters and sample assignments.
Employers considering hiring university graduates can verify that their candidates have actually been awarded a genuine degree by contacting a pre employment screening company.
University employee lied about qualification
9 September 2009
Karen Hartshorn, a science writer at the University of Otago in Dunedin has left the university following an anonymous tip-off to the "Otago Daily Times" newspaper that she did not have the Doctorate she claimed to have.
Hartshorn was employed to write articles for newspapers and magazines about the work undertaken by the University. She apparently enrolled for a PhD in Geology at Cambridge University in England, but never graduated.
Nonetheless she subsequently began claiming to have a PhD in Geology from Cambridge University, and referred to herself as ‘Dr Hartshorn” during interviews as far back at 2½ years ago. The University of Otago’s Staff Directories also recorded Hartshorn as have a doctorate.
Hartshorn, who was born in England, was first employed in Dunedin in 2006 when she was appointed Director of the New Zealand International Science Festival. In 2008 she was elected President of the Science Communicators Association of New Zealand and was later appointed Director of Translational Research at the National Centre for Lifecourse Research, in Dunedin.
Varnished Truths - have you been scammed?
4 April 2009
Fraud on a massive scale has been in the headlines, from Michael Swann's $17 million efforts at the Otago District Health Board, to US financier Bernard Madoff's Ponzi-scheme billions But fraud is often much more everyday than that, as Kim Dungey and Shane Gilchrist report. View article>>
30th conviction for claiming to be chiropractor
20 August 2008
James Michael Dawson, also known as Michael Dawson, was convicted and fined $4200 in Nelson for falsely claiming to be a qualified and registered chiropractor. The charges were brought by the Ministry of Health who secured its first conviction against Dawson in 1999. Today’s court appearance was his 30th conviction for claiming to be a chiropractor.
New Zealand residents pay $20,000 for fake degrees
17 August 2008
A total of 9,612 people from 131 countries spent more than NZ$10 million buying 10,815 fake degrees and certificates from a United States “degree mill” in Washington State.
Degrees and diplomas sold by such companies are frequently used for fraudulent purposes, such as obtaining employment and promotions.
Ten people from New Zealand spent more than $20,400 buying qualifications from the company, whose owners were recently sentenced to three years imprisonment. Two of the New Zealand purchasers, (one bought a BA, the other a PhD), are a Director and Shareholder respectively of an employment recruitment company in Auckland.
The degree-selling business used the names of 77 legitimate academic faculties (including one New Zealand institution) and used the names of 121 unrecognised or non-existent institutions in their sale of fraudulent academic qualifications. Some were of their own invention (“St. Regis University”), while others were the names of diploma mills operated by their competitors (“University Francophone Robert de Sorbon”), for example.
An obvious lack of concern for the public’s safety was evident in that almost one-third of the “degrees” were issued in fields such as Healthcare, Engineering, and Public Safety.
The complete list of buyers, which the U.S. Department of Justice has refused to release to the public, can be found here (note: large webpage to view- 1.9Mb).
Netball manager convicted of using fake degree
3 June 2008
Twenty-nine year-old Hayden Mark Coulton was convicted in the Palmerston North District Court last month of using a fake degree for pecuniary advantage. Coulton, who had studied at Massey University, but never graduated, claimed in his CV to have a Bachelor of Sports Studies degree from Massey.
He submitted the false CV when he applied for a job with Western Netball and was subsequently appointed its Regional Manager in April 2007. When a news story later appeared in the local media about Hayden Coulton’s appointment, which included reference to his degree, a Massey University official decided to verify Coulton’s qualification and discovered that he had never graduated. The University laid a complaint with the Police.
Coulton, who suddenly quite his job when confronted, initially denied the charge, later pled guilty, was fined $750 and applied for permanent name suppression. The application was declined but he appealed to the High Court before eventually abandoning his quest to keep his name suppressed. It emerged Coulton had been planning to join the Police and was due to be vetted when his offending came to light.
Forger sentenced to four years imprisonment
10 November 2006
Rebecca Katsz Li, a 35 year-old Auckland Company Director who forged university qualifications that were almost indistinguishable from genuine degrees, has been sentenced to four years imprisonment.
Li was convicted of 49 charges of forging documents that included university degrees, birth certificates, immigration permits, tax invoices, academic records and also Australian driver licences. It was claimed Li, who operated a design and advertising company from her Grey Lynn home, used sophisticated computer programmes and printing equipment to create high-quality forgeries which she sold for as much as $5,000 each. When her premises were searched a number of fraudulently made seals and stamps for various New Zealand universities were also discovered. It was alleged the offending took place over a seven year period.
The sentencing Judge order that Li serve a minimum two years imprisonment before being eligible for parole, rather than the traditional one third of her sentence, as it would not otherwise be enough to punish, denounce and deter her offending.
The Police believe numerous fake qualifications are still in circulation and being used to secure jobs, but how many was anyone's guess. Auckland University’s Registrar said the mass production of fraudulent degrees and other university certificates was "a major corrosion" of the university’s credibility and he urged would-be employers to verify all qualifications.
“Acupuncturist” hired over the Internet without verifying qualifications
25 October 2004
An Austrian working as an acupuncturist at the “Raphael Healthy Living Centre” in Whakatane was suspended after he was unable to confirm his claimed qualifications. Walter Sommeregger, who was known overseas as Professor Doctor David Schweitzer, was also accused by the International Albert Schweitzer Association of falsely claiming to be related to Albert Schweitzer, the Nobel Peace prize winner.
Sommeregger also claimed that in 1992 the American Biographical Institute (ABI) had awarded him its “Man of the year” prize for services to complementary medicine and that the International Biographical Centre has awarded him its “World Intellectual Award” in 1993. In truth, the ABI is a mail order publisher that generates its revenue from the sale of non-existent certificates and awards for up to US$800 each.
Shimrit Attoun, the owner of the “Raphael Healthy Living Centre”, and the person who hired Sommeregger over the Internet and brought him to New Zealand without verifying his qualifications, maintained that the Immigration Service should have been responsible for confirming Sommeregger’s background.
Police recruit found to have submitted fraudulent application
30 September 2004
A UK Police recruit, brought to New Zealand under a programme by New Zealand Police to make up a staffing shortfall, resigned and returned to England after it was discovered he had falsified his application. The recruit was already the subject of disciplinary proceedings when the falsification in his application to join the New Zealand Police was discovered.
Recruitment Company recommends convicted fraudster for $75,000 job
12 February 2004
The Thames-Coromandel District Council engaged international recruitment firm TMP Hudson to find it a suitable person for the position of Information Service’s Manager, responsible for managing the Council’s IT department. Hudson identified Annette Hema, who claimed to have a Masters degree in Computing, as a qualified applicant and she was subsequently appointed by the Council to the position, which attracted an annual salary $75,000-$85,000.
She worked for the Council for six weeks before the recruitment company belatedly reported that Hema (which was not her real name) had been convicted of fraud in Auckland, several months earlier. During the period she was employed by the Council it had paid her $10,000 in wages. TMP Hudson subsequently refunded to the Council, the $13,900 fee it had charged for finding and recommending Hema for the position. The Council never got the chance to speak to Hema about the matter before she disappeared.
New Zealand Articles
Migrants sold hope in phoney documents
3 April 2005 – Herald on Sunday
In the situations vacant section of the Mandarin Pages, hope is for sale.
Degrees that usually take three years to obtain are being offered for around $12,000. view article»