Academic misconduct is a serious concern. According to Berkeley City College, academic misconduct is any type of cheating that occurs in relation to a formal academic exercise. This type of misconduct has been done by many applicants to make it easier for them to be accepted by hiring companies or any important institutions. One of the most common is the falsification of documents. The University of Washington stated that academic falsification occurs when:

1. Someone falsely represents the university by having a false academic credential, including, but not limited to, degrees, certificates, grades, and credits, that the person never received or earned;
2. Someone falsely represents to anyone that he or she attended and/or received credits, grades, a degree, certificate, or other credential from the university; or
3. Someone provides anyone a university transcript, diploma, or other credential (or copy thereof) that has been altered or otherwise falsified.

Unfortunately, they not only forge their documents, but they also falsify details such as letter numbers, degrees, grades, graduation dates etc. 

The act of using a fake diploma to apply for a job and acting as if the diploma is his/her property is categorized as a letter falsification whose criminal provisions are regulated in Article 263 of the Criminal Code (“KUHP”), which reads:

1. Anyone who makes a fake letter or falsifies a letter that can give rise to rights, commitments or debt relief, or which is intended as evidence of something with the intention to use or order others to use the letter as if the contents are true and not forged, is punishable with a maximum imprisonment of six years.
2. Threatened with the same criminal charge, are those whoever intentionally uses fake or forged documents as if true, and if the use of the letter can cause harm.

Academic falsification is usually found within the people who have already graduated, but once in a while this type of misconduct can be found for the students who are still pursuing their studies in university. This forgery is usually done to meet the qualifications required by the recruiter, who often require candidates who have already graduated. So, in order to take part in the recruitment process, they will do anything to meet the requirements, including falsifying their academic document, which has not been issued by the university. 

Therefore, it is very important to verify whether the potential candidate has received a degree from the university during the recruitment process to prevent hiring candidates who have the potential to commit fraud, which in turn can be detrimental to the company or institution. This is why background screening, and especially educational background screening, is important to conduct for any potential candidate before they are given a position to hold within a company or an institution. 

Integrity Indonesia has more than seventeen years of experience in providing compliance services, one of which is Employment Background Screening Service. To verify the candidate’s claims, our team of screeners assess the validity of information provided in the curriculum vitae and other supporting documents by conducting a background check. Our screening is conducted through Prisma, our proprietary screening platform that can be integrated with our client HR information systems. To find out more about our employment background screening service, contact us today!

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Written by: Bilal, Hana, Sara, and Wulan
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay