A startup founder has claimed that his company incurred losses of over Rs 2 lakh after hiring a candidate who allegedly falsified key details on his resume.
Ashutosh Gupta, Chief Business Officer at Praper Media, shared the experience in a LinkedIn post, stating that the company discovered several discrepancies in the employee’s credentials months after onboarding him.
“We hired someone who lied about everything on their resume. By the time we found out, we’d lost Rs 2 lakhs,” Gupta wrote.
Gupta explained that the incident took place when the company was still in its early stages and did not consider background verification a necessity.
“Back when Praper was smaller, background verification felt unnecessary. So we hired based on interviews and gut feeling. If someone seemed good in the interview, we brought them on,” he said.
The candidate, referred to as “Chirag” in the post, reportedly appeared confident and experienced during the hiring process. He claimed to be earning Rs 40,000 per month at his previous agency, and the startup offered him Rs 45,000.
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However, concerns began to emerge about two months into his tenure. Gupta said the employee struggled with standard editing assignments that junior editors typically completed much faster.
“We assigned him a reaction video edit. Standard work. Our junior editors handle three per day. Chirag took two days, and the output was unusable,” Gupta wrote.
Given the claimed three years of experience and salary history, the company found the performance issues concerning and decided to verify his employment background.
According to Gupta, the verification process uncovered multiple alleged falsehoods:
- He was earning Rs 25,000, not Rs 40,000, at his previous job.
- He had not resigned voluntarily but was terminated due to performance issues.
- The “manager” who provided a positive reference was reportedly a friend posing as a professional contact.
Gupta estimated the financial impact as follows:
- Rs 1.35 lakh spent on three months’ salary
- Rs 40,000 invested in training time
- Rs 25,000 spent on replacement hiring
In addition to the direct financial loss of over Rs 2 lakh, Gupta said the company faced delayed client work, reduced team morale, and lost productivity over four months.
Following the incident, Praper Media has made background verification compulsory for every new hire. The process includes contacting previous employers’ HR departments, verifying managers through official company numbers, cross-checking LinkedIn profiles, and reviewing salary slips.
“People try to bypass with fake numbers and photoshopped slips. We catch them 90 per cent of the time,” Gupta said, advising other founders to implement verification measures early instead of waiting for costly mistakes.
The LinkedIn post has since sparked discussion among entrepreneurs about hiring practices and the importance of thorough background checks in startups.