65% believe firms need to do more to root out fakes

Tighter recruitment procedures need to be introduced across Gulf-based companies to ensure employees have the qualifications they claim to have.

More than 65 percent of people who took part in an online Arabian Business poll on Sunday said they thought not enough was being done to root out the imposters who come to the region looking for new jobs.

The poll was carried out after it emerged that more than 180 people from across the Gulf had been blacklisted for holding fake US academic certificates.

Sixty-nine people from Saudi Arabia and 68 from the UAE are among almost 10,000 people in total who have been named and shamed by the US Department of Justice for purchasing fake high school and college degrees from a “degree mill” based in Washington.

According to reports, those named include hundreds of people with links to the US military, educational institutions, government and security agencies such as the CIA.

And our poll revealed widespread concern that fake qualifications could be used in the Gulf region to secure employment.

More than 35 percent of respondents said companies had to tighten up their procedures when employing people while another 30 percent agreed more must be done in a bid to raise the standard of employmentn in the region.

A further 13 percent said local companies faced a tough task in tracking the education and employment record of every would-be new staff member because so many of them came from abroad.

This week's diploma fraud came to light following the indictment and conviction of eight people involved in running the scam after being apprehended by the US Attorney's Office in "Operation Gold Seal".

The ringleader of the scam, a 58-year-old high school dropout, was jailed for three years.

But 21 percent of people who took part in the Arabian Business poll thought these cases were rare and that there wasn't really a problem in the Gulf regarding people trying to fake qualifications.

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