I don't know if anybody else heard the interview on RTE radio during the week, where Derek Mooney spoke to a guy who set up a business in the UK called Fake Alibi. Basically this company promotes itself as the worlds first legitimate Alibi Service!! It provides all types of alibi's from people trying to cover up their affairs by saying they are at a conference or business trip to people who need fake references,fake payslips, doctors notes etc.
The two main things that i find despicable about this company is firstly is that is could possibly facilitate a crime. One possible scenario i came across while looking up this company was the following:
Joe Bloggs has been arrested for a GBH, he is interviewed and makes no comment in the interview when he exercises his right to silence, he is then bailed by the Police for further investigations to be carried out. Joe Bloggs then contacts Fakealibi.co.uk and arranges for an alibi to be created by claiming he was in a pub with a friend when really he was assaulting the complainant. The Police reinterview Joe Bloggs when he returns to the Police Station and he gives details of his new alibi. Hey presto he has the barebones of a defence!
The second thing i could not get over, and this infuriated me more than anything, is that the business owner, Nick something or other, admitted to Mooney that they do also provide fake doctors notes for individuals who wish to present them to their employers, whether it is for a long term illness or just a couple of weeks. The name of the doctor will be fake but the phone number on the doctors note will forward on to somebody pretending to be the doctors surgery, verifying the employees illness. The main problem i have with this, is lets say an employee is off work with one of these sick notes for a couple of months. Due to the sick note i decide to pay them during their sick leave without knowing there is nothing wrong with them. This is ripping me, the employer off. That to me is fraud! I would be livid if i found out an employee had gone down this route. Its simply wrong.
When the business owner was asked by Mooney whether he considered this to be assisting fraud, he replied no. He likened it to a person who owns a gun shop. He sells a gun to an individual, the individual goes off and kills someone. The person who sold the gun is not liable. Likewise, he provies a fake sick note to an employee, he says its up to the employee to do with it, what they please.
I don't know if anyone else has come across this company or heard the interview, but i'd be interested in hearing what other people have to say about it.
The two main things that i find despicable about this company is firstly is that is could possibly facilitate a crime. One possible scenario i came across while looking up this company was the following:
Joe Bloggs has been arrested for a GBH, he is interviewed and makes no comment in the interview when he exercises his right to silence, he is then bailed by the Police for further investigations to be carried out. Joe Bloggs then contacts Fakealibi.co.uk and arranges for an alibi to be created by claiming he was in a pub with a friend when really he was assaulting the complainant. The Police reinterview Joe Bloggs when he returns to the Police Station and he gives details of his new alibi. Hey presto he has the barebones of a defence!
The second thing i could not get over, and this infuriated me more than anything, is that the business owner, Nick something or other, admitted to Mooney that they do also provide fake doctors notes for individuals who wish to present them to their employers, whether it is for a long term illness or just a couple of weeks. The name of the doctor will be fake but the phone number on the doctors note will forward on to somebody pretending to be the doctors surgery, verifying the employees illness. The main problem i have with this, is lets say an employee is off work with one of these sick notes for a couple of months. Due to the sick note i decide to pay them during their sick leave without knowing there is nothing wrong with them. This is ripping me, the employer off. That to me is fraud! I would be livid if i found out an employee had gone down this route. Its simply wrong.
When the business owner was asked by Mooney whether he considered this to be assisting fraud, he replied no. He likened it to a person who owns a gun shop. He sells a gun to an individual, the individual goes off and kills someone. The person who sold the gun is not liable. Likewise, he provies a fake sick note to an employee, he says its up to the employee to do with it, what they please.
I don't know if anyone else has come across this company or heard the interview, but i'd be interested in hearing what other people have to say about it.