Reporting on the Latest Frauds, Scams, Fake Lotteries, Spams and Hoaxes
Quick degree scams - "Get your degree in 30 days!" "No studying required", "Turn your experience into a degree". They say they are accredited and the degree is legal and meaningful. That's part of the scam.
The existence of unaccredited, substandard, and/or fraudulent postsecondary education (college, university, graduate schools) providers is a global phenomenon, as is the existence of unrecognized and/or fraudulent accreditors. The credits and degrees awarded by these unaccredited or sham diploma mills are not going to be recognized by legitimately accredited institutions, official professional licensing authorities, recognition authorities or reputable employers.
And when the sham is exposed that you purchased your degree; you'll be out on the street and no one will hire you. You may make the cover of a newspaper, exposed as the worthless hack you are for attempting to buy your degree. You may make a list of people who have purchased scam degrees, that we're working on right now.
So how do you avoid being sucked into an education scam?
Unaccredited schools share a number of fairly easy to verify characteristics. See this page for a checklist to check out a school or degree program that you are considering.
Then check this master list of scam schools and this list of unaccredited schools
U.S. Laws on fake degrees are inconsistent in the United States. Even where it is explicitly illegal, both in some states and abroad, enforcement is erratic. The U.S. federal government puts the responsibility on the states, and since it is a white collar crime, no large scale enforcement has taken place.
There are two types of fake degrees:
The following resources can help you to avoid substandard and unaccredited institutions, unrecognized accrediting bodies, and academic frauds that have been or are being investigated and prosecuted.
NOTE: Because state governments actually oversee the organization and structure of U.S. higher education, the state agencies that publish information about diploma mills and accreditation mills are very important. Several states agencies now have the legal power to publish "negative lists" of unapproved, unaccredited, or illegal providers.
Both UNESCO and the Council of Europe (COE) have suffered due to diploma mill and accreditation mill websites claiming that these international organizations recognize institutions or accrediting bodies. International organizations have no authority to do this, and mere affiliation with such an organization does not in any way confer educational status or recognition. Neither UNESCO nor the Council of Europe accredit or recognize institutions of higher education, nor do they recognize or approve accrediting agencies.
In addition, several countries have published official warnings and/or lists of unrecognized providers operating in their territory. These include:
See also:
And please let us know about any suspicious calls or emails you receive. We look for patterns so that we can alert the authorities and victims to new scams, before it is too late!
For a comprehensive list of national and international agencies to report scams, see this page.
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