Jobs fraudster gets four years
aScams that prey on job hunters are sadly a regular feature of this column, thanks to the likes of fraudster John Sothern.
He posed as a charity boss with a vacancy for a counsellor that would pay £34,000 a year, and advertised the supposed post on the official Jobcentre website.
The crook pocketed around £9,000 which candidates were told to pay for Disclosure and Barring Service checks.
Some victims resigned from existing jobs, believing they’d got a new post.
Now 48-year-old Sothern, from Birkenhead, Merseyside, is back in jail for the fourth time, this time for four years, after being convicted at Liverpool crown court of fraud and money laundering.
Keith Rosser of employment charity SAFERjobs, warned that frauds like this are increasing.
“While it is very pleasing to see the outcome of this case, unfortunately this is just a small part of a much bigger problem,” he said.
“Universal Jobmatch has made very good progress to resolve issues on its site but many of the best-known job boards continue to advertise jobs that at best do not exist, and at worst are a front for criminal activity.”