EDS main witness in BSkyB case had a “propensity to be dishonest” – judge

Sky was suing EDS over miss-selling its capabilities to deliver a call centre and CRM system.
What caught our interest is that the EDS defence seems to have faltered because a key witness, Joe Galloway, was shown to have lied about his degree which appears to have been bought from an Internet site. (In fact the Sky barrister’s dog managed to obtain a better degree than Galloway!) From this lie, there was a lack of confidence in the whole EDS story. The costs are yet to be disclosed.

The morale of this story is to know your people before you put them in a position such as this, and to have a robust recruitment process that checks their claimed qualifications. People security is a major pillar in the security toolkit.

The headline comes from a Computer Weekly article at http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/tony_collins/2010/01/eds-key-witness-in-bskyb-case.html

Enquiry One

Who is supervising the Supervisor?

Our client, a local authority, was concerned that a safety supervisor was, failing to confirm their contractors compliance and was also making false claims on expenses. Their internal investigation was not conclusive to enable disciplinary action.

Our surveillance team was therefore dispatched to follow the target for a total of four days, spread over two weeks. The amount of enquiry time would prevent the counter allegation that this was a ‘one-off’ event.

The target, unbelievably, only undertook a couple of hours work a day. The majority of his time was spent at home.

Our daily video evidence and reporting kept the client up to date. The final report was accompanied with DVD’s of the evidence obtained by the two operatives.

At the end of a subsequent two day disciplinary hearing the target resigned as the evidence was overwhelming.

A very successful operation. Our client provided the following comment:

‘Many thanks for your slick and professional service. ‘

Enquiry 2

Sick and still so sporty!!

Our client, a private company, was concerned that an employee who they were wishing to speak to about performance suddenly went sick with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. A disorder, which is seemingly impossible for a doctor to diagnose, but an illness that if genuine can cause great discomfort.

Our team of operatives therefore carried out the observation and the results are as follows:

Day 1 – 18 holes of Golf and pub lunch

Day 2 – Visit to doctor for new sick note (further 7 days), visit to garden centre and collection of heavy building materials for DIY.

Day 3 – Bike ride 2.5 hours

Day 4-  1hour 20 minutes tennis match.

This is one of our best ever examples of abuse of trust whilst sick, in twenty years of trading. The employer actually spoke to their member of staff on day two when they were advised of the extra sick days. The staff member even added how they were in terrible discomfort and unable to leave the house. The employer at that time was in possession of still shots of the previous days golf outing.

In addition to these cases the abuse by staff in respect of sickness was highlighted by the Financial Times in their article relating to Swine flu, namely ‘Flu rise points to Monday Sickies’.

www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f59de59a-97dd-11de-8d3d-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

Both enquiries were undertaken by WM, without the knowledge of the target as measures were put in place prior to each operation to ensure that only a few employees knew of the action. If the target was found to be surveillance conscious (due to the recent increased scrutiny) and made an effort to see if they were being followed we introduced counter measures such as change of vehicles and other professional surveillance techniques.

Our client in the first case was a Local Authority and a private company in the second. In each case full consideration was made to a recent decision by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (“RIPA”). This decision has implications for the way the police, local authorities and the wider public sector carry out surveillance of employees. It also means that those doing or advising on such surveillance will have to have a greater understanding of the Data Protection Act 1998. (See previous news with regard Data Protection qualifications within WM)

DO YOU UNDERTAKE PRE EMPLOYMENT SCREENING? IF NOT, WHY NOT?

THESE TARGETS, AND MANY MORE LIKE THEM, ARE NOW LOOKING FOR WORK!!!

Early this year we were contacted by our customer in respect of such a vehicle which they believed was obtained using false information. Our investigation revealed the vehicle had been obtained using the partial details of a victim of crime. The victim and his wife who lived in West London had been subjected to a violent burglary whereby a large number of personnel documents had been stolen as well as other goods. These documents and details had been adapted and we presume passed or sold on to our suspects.

Our actions were to obtain the necessary evidence, statements and report the matter to Police so the vehicle could be shown immediately as Lost/stolen on the Police National Computer.

The suspect who were finally arrested could not be linked to the original burglary however they were arrested in possession of the vehicle and charged with Handling Stolen Goods. The car was recovered from the Police Pound and restored to our client the finance company.  

The Thieves were sentenced at the Central Criminal Court on 9th July 2009 to 15 months imprisonment.

This was the case in July 2009 when our client provided us with a case where both the UK resident hirer and his vehicle could not be located. 

A comprehensive investigation established that this motorhome was actually in France – Chateau Gontier and an exact address for storage was obtained.

The motorhome was recovered from the remote farm where it was being stored and was finally repatriated to the UK for sale.

A very satisfied customer indeed!

The HMRC website provides details of the  the e-mail addresses used as well as methods and examples of the various scams.

The latest example from the website and posted just last month states:

Approval of funds scam email – 19 June 2009

An email is being issued displaying the email address postmaster@hmrc.co.uk with the subject ‘You are a winner of 168,240.00 GBP’. The email features an attachment and requests that personal details are recorded on the attachment and forwarded to info@lloydstsbprize.com.

To find out more go to:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/examples.htm

If you are a recipient of such e mails you need to forward them to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk

Sharing of such information ensures that the offenders are more likely to be stopped!!

The walk took a total of seven hours 20 minutes and started in bright sunshine.  Upon reaching the summit some four hours later we found ourselves in the clouds walking through snow. On the way down we were soon back in the sunshine and able to stop by the waterfall for a short lunch break.

We are extremely pleased in these difficult times to have raised in the region of £1500 for the charity and hope we will be able to raise more in 2010, when we will undertake a similar challenge.

If you would like to donate please go to www.justgiving.co.uk/licencebureau/

A successful trace was undertaken and a new address identified for both the hirer and the vehicle for recovery.

Recovery was completed after discussions with the hirer however to our surprise the car was being used as a dog kennel for a ‘Newfoundland’. The interior of this new car left a lot to be desired with dog hair and slobber throughout not to mention general debris from the hirer himself.

I think it is fair to say that the hirer is now certainly ‘In the Dog House’ with our client.

A dirty job, but a mess well and truly dealt with!!

Over the years our non corporate cases have included Stalkers, fraudsters and blackmailers to name a few.

In 2008 we were contacted by a client who stated their friend needed urgent help. The friend had called Police as they were victim of a deception. The suspect being a psychic con artiste, they had met through sky TV and Police were somewhat sceptical.

Our task was to interview the victim at length and provide Police with a time line of events showing exactly how the con had been committed over a number of months. Our actions not only identified the suspects but also provided the officers with details of mobiles, jewellery and other items they needed to seize when searching premises.

Our actions took only 6 hours and Police were able to arrest interview and gather the crucial evidence.

The case was heard at St Albans Crown Court where the two suspects were sentenced to 3 years and 30 months imprisonment respectively.

For full details of the story go to the DAILY Mail website at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1192159/Lovesick-chef-loses-12-000-psychic-medium-sees-fraud-trial-coming-flees-country.html

Repossessing cars is a tricky business and a career not to be taken lightly.

One of our first repossessions in 1989 ended with the driver reported to  Police for dangerous driving and the vehicle impaled on the top of railings having tried to evade the recovery. The driver had made off across a grass lawn almost running us over in the process.

Since 1989 incidents have been few and far between even though we have dealt with both organised crime as well as the more simple cases. At all times our aim is to ensure we have the upper hand or element of surprise, our team having the  experience to negotiate and talk our way out of most situations. This month after a protracted trace investigation we recovered a vehicle from the son of a hirer. The negotiation for recovery we thought had gone well.

On inspection of the vehicle for recovery we found that all the wheel nuts were loose. The vehicle was deposited at the car auctions in full working order.

Our team received a timely reminder that no matter how pleasant a third party may seem, never forget the recovery process and your training.

The standard has a number of auditable measures including process and quality of service to all our customers.

The next step is ISO 27001 accreditation which relates to Data Security.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require any further information.