Fraud warning

It has come to our attention that individuals claiming to represent Laing O’Rourke have been posting advertisements for fictitious positions on recruitments sites – and sending unsolicited (spam) emails from addresses such as ‘[email protected]’ and ‘[email protected]’.

Our company name and logo are used in this correspondence without permission. The perpetrators have no connection with Laing O’Rourke – and their actions are criminal.

The aim of these individuals is to obtain money from applicants and personal information, which may be used in further acts of fraud (such as identity theft).

In some cases, applicants will be ‘interviewed’ over the phone by the fraudsters – and offered the position without having met anyone in person.

Laing O’Rourke will never hire anyone without conducting at least one face-to-face interview with them.

At some point, candidates will be asked to make one or more payments to cover the ‘cost’ of their application. This can include bogus administration fees, charges for accommodation, travel, work permits, visas, etc.

They may also be asked to contact other individuals or organisations – such as solicitors, bank officials, travel agencies, courier companies or visa/immigration agencies. These may be legitimate, but often they are bogus operations run by criminals.

Laing O’Rourke will never ask you for any money. Nor will we ask you to make a payment to anyone else.

What should I look out for?

It can be easy to fall victim to this sort of scam, but there are ways you can protect yourself:

• Beware of emails from accounts such as gmail.com, googlemail.com, hotmail.com, yahoo.com, yahoo.co.uk, live.com, london.com or mail.com.
• If you have already responded to an email, check where it has been directed. Replies may be routed back to one of the above addresses - even if the original email has come from another account.
• Never reply to any email ending in ‘laingorourkeuk.org’. This is not a legitimate address.
• Look out for phone numbers beginning +44 (0)70.
• For a list of our main office contact numbers, click here.
• There is often an insistence on urgency. You may be pressured to respond or take action immediately.

What should I do?

If you suspect that you have been the target of recruitment fraud:

• Stop all communication with that individual / organisation immediately.
• If you have given out your account details or made a payment, inform your bank straight away.
• Save all correspondence. You may need this as evidence.
• Let us know. We will confirm whether or not the offer is legitimate.
• If it is a scam, we will take appropriate action against the individual/s involved.
• If the job was posted on a recruitment site, you should warn the operators that their services are being used by fraudsters.

How to contact us

• Contact us through our online enquiry form, by clicking here.
• Under the field ‘my enquiry is about’ you will find a drop-down list. Select ‘suspected recruitment fraud’.
• Please provide us with as much information as possible, including your country of residence.