In an age when consumers can buy virtually anything on the Internet, some corporations are making a quick fortune by selling counterfeit master’s or doctoral degrees, according to the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization, one of the only organizations of its kind.
According to the office’s website, some diploma mills ask customers to send money in exchange for a degree. Others require customers to perform “nominal work,” such as filling out simple paper work or taking tests — but not “college-level coursework that is normally required for a degree.”
Diploma mills have flourished in recent years because many states lack the means to police them on the Internet, according to eLearner.com.
Several red flags can help determine whether a school is in fact a diploma mill. Consumers should look to see if the agency is accredited and provides a list of faculty and their qualifications or evidence of a campus, according to Council for Higher Education Accreditation’s website. Degree programs that can be completed in a short amount of time or are based mainly on life experience should be regarded with caution, the site continues.
The counterfeit degrees have been found at workplaces across the country, including government offices, where officials were found with degrees from one of the most notorious diploma mills, St. Regis University, which is based in Washington state.
According to University of Illinois-Urbana physics professor George Gollin, hundreds of federal employees have been found with St. Regis degrees, including a member of the National Security Agency and a Senior State Department Official based in Kuwait.
Gollin said he became interested in the counterfeit diplomas after he received too much spam in his inbox and wanted to know what actually sent him all the offers.
Gollin told The Daily Free Press that in 2003 he investigated St. Regis University, first taking a St. Regis test, on which he intentionally answered many questions wrong and scored a 21 percent. St. Regis in turn offered him a diploma in associative arts for only $1,000.
After Gollin contacted the Washington State Attorney General, three federal agents posed as diploma mill entrepreneurs and met with St. Regis representatives. Through the sting operation, the agents discovered that a number of corrupt Liberian officials were bribed to vouch for St. Regis’s academic legitimacy.
There are roughly 2,500 different diploma mills, made up of clusters of several schools owned by the same person, said Alan Contreras, an administrator of the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization who worked on the St. Regis investigation.
Contreras said it is relatively easy for police groups to spot an American-operated diploma mill, but it is more difficult to recognize a foreign-based diploma mill or determine who holds a degree from a diploma mill.
People with the degrees are often caught when coworkers notice they lack the skills they claim to have, Contreras said. Once they are caught, however, many people say they do not know their degree is counterfeit.
“People always claim to be duped,” Contreras said.
Prosecution for obtaining a false diploma depends on the state. Only 10 states consider the action illegal — most states do not prosecute diploma mills.
