Something’s Rotten in Denmark: Background Screening!

A recent Wall Street Journal article detailing the spectacular rise and fall of Danish entrepreneur Stein Bagger – who was chosen Denmark's “Entrepreneur of Year” in November – reveals the growing need for international background screening in today’s global business world. Bagger, 41, the dynamic chief executive of IT Factory, an award-winning software company with obviously no background screening practices, vanished from a hotel in Dubai when he should have been picking up his award in Copenhagen, fleeing from a business scam that investigators estimate lost $185 million.

Bagger has since surrendered to police and plead guilty to charges of aggravated fraud and forgery, crimes that could have been prevented with proper background screening procedures. At least 95% of IT Factory's business was fictitious – Bagger used fake firms to get money from banks and then used these same companies to place orders to his own company – as was the Ph.D. Bagger boasted of from a non-existent university. These lies could have been easily uncovered by the most basic background screening measures.

What’s real is the prevailing need for international background screening, as IBM has discovered. IBM Denmark once hailed IT Factory as "creative and visionary" but has now filed a claim to recover $23 million owed to them by Bagger's bankrupt company. Bagger, who once had offices in the U.S., often bragged of his close ties to IBM and helped sponsor a big software conference in Florida for them, proving that everyone, no matter how impressive in appearance, is a candidate for a thorough background screening.

Outsourced background screening service providers such as Pre-employ.com – recently named one of the top ten in the background screening industry by HRO Today magazine – can help companies doing business outside the U.S. avoid swindlers like Stein Bagger by creating effective background screening solutions. For more information, visit www.Pre-employ.com, email info@pre-employ.com, or call 1-800-300-1821.  

*We welcome relevant comments and questions from consumers, experts, and human resources professionals. Please do not submit comments with advertisements as they will not be posted publicly. Thanks for visiting our blog!