KUALA LUMPUR, 26 APRIL, 2011: A prominent fraud investigator advised Malaysian companies today to do a background check of people they want to employ to avoid being cheated.

Datuk Akhbar Satar, the president of the Malaysian chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, said that they should follow the example of multinationals in the country which were prepared to spend to get background information on prospective or new employees.

Most Malaysian companies did not do background checking because they wanted to save money, but this lack of diligence could prove to be very costly, he told reporters at a one-day symposium on the prevention of embezzlement and fraud at the auditorium of the Companies Commission of Malaysia here.  

"If they hire the wrong people, they may end up with the long lasting burden of embezzlement and fraud," Akhbar said.

Akhbar said that a background check, costing between RM1,250 and RM4,000, would give an employer such information as whether a prospective employee had been convicted of cheating or been sacked from a job.

Referring to fraudsters, Akhbar cited cases of employees who stayed at the office until late at night not to work but to steal valuable information to sell to rival companies.

He said that fraudsters usually spoke well and was good at gaining the confidence of their listeners.

Akhbar said that fraudsters also often lived in a style that they could not afford on their salary.

- Bernama