Last week, the New York Times featured an extraordinary in-depth investigative piece about a company in Pakistan that has allegedly created over 100 fake high school and university websites (see list) that hand out fake degrees.
Diploma mills are nothing new, but these websites are slickly produced with great graphics, and have detailed information at every link.
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Many of these schools are adorned with logos from known and unknown accreditation organizations, student testimonials, and even links to reports about the schools on CNN.
Example 1:
This CNN iReport touts the success of Brooklyn Park University:
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*MOUSE PRINT:
That report really is at CNN.com — no tricks. How did it get there? The entire iReport section is a place for average citizens to upload news stories that they witnessed. CNN has a small disclaimer on each story that it has not been verified by the network.
Example 2:
And then there are student testimonials on some of the college sites like this one:
*MOUSE PRINT:
What’s this kid, maybe 19 years old? That means, according to his testimonial, that he started working as a supervisor at the age of 12. And it seems he not only got a bachelor’s degree from Woodrow University (above), but he liked the experience so much that he got another bachelor’s degree from Johnstown University — all by about the age of 19.
In fact, this guy is a male model and his pictures are for sale on Shutterstock.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Example 3:
And the pay for professors must be pretty low because this teacher of business management coincidentally also moonlights as a model.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Scam schools attract two types of students: those trying to pull one over on others by getting a bogus degree, and those who think they are applying to a genuine school to get an online education. Both may pay thousands of dollars for something that is ultimately worthless.
And then there’s another potential victim — all of us — who may come in contact with one of these people who was hired unwittingly by an employer who took their resume at face value without further checking.
The company denied the charges in the NYT story. Nonetheless, Pakistan’s equivalent of the FBI raided the company’s offices, seized computers and arrested 45 employees the day after the story was published. And CNN has removed iReport stories about (only some of) these schools from its website.
May 27th update: The president of the company behind these schools was just arrested in Pakistan.
Wow, that was quite a comprehensive report. It’s amazing what lengths people will go to to cheat a system rather than doing honorable work. Some people may be legitimately fooled by those websites, but there are clearly some people who want easy degrees with no work.
Stationing their headquarters outside of the US is probably what helps them last so long. That, and the government doesn’t seem interested in investigating.
Clyde (“Clyde?” Yes, “Clyde”) Newman’s third endorsement: “For seven long years I’ve worn these blue jeans. They simply refuse to wear out.”
This is nothing new. Decades ago I look at something called “The Bear Book” that had phoney schools listed. Many would keep your “records” on file for a yearly fee.
It is too easy nowdays to do a website just like that in say WordPress.
Buy a premium theme, buy some shuttertock photos, webspace, and you are good to go.
The flawed English grammar and syntax on some of these polished websites should be a potential student’s first clue that something is not right.
There are so many online “universities” these days all claiming to be something legitimate and special, and there aren’t enough ways to compare them as there are to compare brick and mortar schools. So it’s easier to be taken in.
@Bill54494, I’d agree, but most students looking at getting a degree through a “school” like this probably doesn’t have a strong grasp of grammar and syntax.
Good news item MousePrint. I totally agree too many fake universities. I also agree with the local government that are making laws prohibiting trade or vocational schools from using the words college or university in their name.
The key question when dealing with any school. “Are you certified?” Not ‘on our way’ or ‘not yet’. Let me see the certification. Any school that says 99% of students end up placed somewhere are not exactly lying either. Most people do get a job eventually (even if it is in fast food). The implication is the school helps out. Usually they do not and aim you at a website where it is all DIY.
Those words right there weeds out 99% of the crap. Yes, you can learn things at these schools. But the graduation paper is worth nothing because the rest of the industry has gone thru a lot of trouble making it so.
If you are looking to pick up a skill, and they are price competitive, they are an excellent way to come up to speed on something. If you are looking to get a degree thru them? Forget it.