In the first fortnight of July 2008, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) allegedly fired twenty employees for providing fake certificates of previous employment from bogus companies. It seems that TCS wants to set an example for fraudsters, and they believe the best way to do this is to become stricter about the people they employ. IT companies are now focusing on more thorough background screening, including field checks on companies that aren't in their database. The temptation to earn more, either by fair or foul means, has led many individuals to falsify information on their CVs by greatly exaggerating details and also by withholding information. Sometimes, a prospective employer may not realize that a new employee is being hired to obtain confidential data or information, either for a competitor or for personal gain. In such cases, there is little that can be done other than to suffer in isolation. Such occurrences have become increasingly common. A report published in the Hindustan Times reveals that three out of every ten job seekers falsify information on their CVs to secure a job, according to recent surveys conducted across the country between January 2007 and March 2008. Dishonesty ranges from inflating salaries and submitting fake certificates to tampering with university mark sheets. This deceit is one of the reasons why India Inc loses approximately $40 billion (Rs. 1.72 lakh crore) annually due to corporate fraud by company insiders, as per a survey conducted by India Forensic Research, a background check firm. "We have observed over the past two years that individuals who lie on their CVs are more likely to engage in larger frauds later," said Ashish Dehade, Managing Director of West Asia Operations at First Advantage, a US-based multinational background check firm that surveyed 1.5 million cases in the last 15 months. "Recently, six employees of a multinational bank were involved in a major credit card scam. It was discovered that all six had lied on their CVs about their employment history. In fact, all six had also provided false information to secure their previous positions." Infotech giant Tata Consultancy Services conducts thorough background checks on all recruits within seven days of issuing offer letters. Primarily confined to Infotech, information technology-enabled services, banking, and insurance, fraudulent activities have more than doubled in the last six months in fast-moving consumer goods, retail, healthcare, and travel industries. One out of every three employees in the banking, finance, security, and insurance (BFSI) sector, every fourth employee in the IT sector, and one out of every six in IT-enabled service sectors were found guilty of misrepresenting or falsifying education or employment records, as revealed by the First Advantage survey. Most fraud cases were reported at the top levels of organizations. Top executives (C-level), including board directors and vice-presidents, were responsible for 42 percent of all frauds committed, according to a survey carried out by KPMG Forensic's India operations last year.