Job applicant who pretended to be his referees in phone calls with HR manager jailed
SINGAPORE — A man submitted a forged polytechnic diploma in his job application to be a fire safety manager as he wanted to avoid having to spend two years studying to get the qualification.
Muhammad Rasul Kadir Ali even pretended to be his own character referees who gave good feedback about him in a job application, according to a report by TODAY. But a human resource manager who dialled the numbers of the referees given by the 31-year-old Singaporean was suspicious that the voices she heard were similar to Rasul’s.
On Wednesday (5 October), Rasul was sentenced to three weeks’ jail after he pleaded guilty to two counts of using a forged document to pass off as a real one and another count of attempting to cheat by personation, the report said.
With the forged diploma and an academic transcript purportedly issued by Temasek Polytechnic, Rasul submitted his job applications. Rasul supposedly obtained the fake documents through an acquaintance by the name of “Ravi”, with whom he claimed that he had lost contact.
After Rasul submitted his application to SPH Retail Property Management Services in 2020, a senior human resource manager noticed that the fonts on the forged diploma were different from the ones that the polytechnic had used previously. She found out after a check with the polytechnic that Rasul was not among its graduates.
Rasul also sent an application to Serangoon Gardens Country Club with the forged diploma. A human resource manager who became suspicious after her phone conversations with Rasul's purported referees contacted the polytechnic and found out that the diploma was fake.
For using the forged diploma, Rasul could have been sentenced up to four years in jail or a fine, or both. He could have been jailed up to five years or fined, or both for cheating by personation.
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