Fake degrees compromise the credibility of legitimate credentials and place lives at risk. They also place businesses at risk of reputational damage and lower employee morale.
It is important to know the signs of diploma mills. The regular checking of the qualifications of employees can assist in verifying their authenticity. This can also help businesses save money by reducing the cost of training as well as recruitment costs.
Diploma Mills
According to Allen Ezell, an 81-year-old retired FBI agent with 65 degrees (only one of which is authentic) and has devoted a large portion of his life to studying diploma mills, the marketplace for fake credentials does $7 billion annually in the business world. He cautions that it is impossible to establish a blacklist containing fraudulent universities. Fake schools can alter names, web domains and other data to evade being detected.
These scams typically target people who work during the day but would like to pursue higher education at night. These scammers use convincing fake professors, glossy campus photographs and other appealing features to lure in their victims.
It is possible to determine whether a company is legit by looking at its history. Check the certification of a university with a reputable institution. Do not enroll if you notice any red flags. Instead, report the school to your attorney general in the state you reside. It will stop the university from committing fraud on others. It’s also crucial to do your homework before enrolling in any online class. Find the contact number of the school and check the if there’s any complaints.
Credential Fraud
Since decades employers and educational institutions have relied on paper certificates to prove a person’s credentials. The global diploma mill is expanding, producing fake certificates that have no value in the market for jobs, and is destroying the trust of people in higher education.
For instance, scammers employ marketing techniques that are invasive, such as pop-up ads and emails to lure in customers. They often offer degrees from universities for a cost, but they rarely offer courses. Sarah Eaton who is a contributor to the Canadian book and also instructs at University of Calgary, says that they also “steal” an established name.
Moreover, diploma mills can create degrees from any number of universities–including real ones–and many offer degree programs that are extremely short and involve little to no work. Employees who get hired with fake degrees are at risk of being dismissed or arrested later on throughout their careers for fraud. To prevent this from happening employers should adopt the best practices for verifying a person’s credentials. This involves conducting an education test before hiring the person, and ensuring that they understand how to recognize fake degrees.
Effect of fake degrees on Real Qualifications
False degrees erode the merit system for advancement and undermine the real value of academic achievements. They also put individuals in harm’s way. For example when a healthcare professional has fake qualifications and credentials, it could result in shoddy patient care. In the same way, fake police credentials could cause unqualified officers to enforce the law, and also erode the trust of citizens in law enforcement agencies.
False academic certificates can affect businesses. They can lead to decreased productivity and more expensive expenses by requiring companies to spend money on training for employees who do not have the required abilities to fulfill their tasks. Employers who hire employees with fake credentials for their employees can suffer from a damaged reputation and lose clients and customers who are adamant about honesty and integrity.
Employers can ward off hiring workers who have fake academic credentials through the implementation of verification procedures to verify degrees during an interview. Examine for any inconsistencies on application and resumes, such as dates of attendance or the majors. Be wary of candidates that do not respond or are unclear with regards to their responses when you ask questions about their education.
Online Education Verification Challenges
The online education landscape is set to continue changing and with it the need for a robust solution. Stakeholders, from education institutions to employers, must to be able rely on the veracity of online academic credentials.
However, the rise of diploma mills and advanced nature of fake credentials is making the process harder. According to Ezell fake degrees currently generate $7 billion annually in sales across the globe.
The wide range of standards available to distance learning institutions is a further challenge. Some universities adhere to high academic standards, whereas others are not accredited or may not even be accredited. It can be difficult for evaluators detect a lack in consistency.
Due to the global nature of online education, verification systems must also be able to account for cultural and legal distinctions across borders. In order to overcome these issues, new technology, such as tamper-proof digital certificates and biometric identity authentication, as well as an inter-institutional system which allows exchange of verified data, are being created. These solutions are changing the face of online education and promoting more trust and confidence and visit here https://lambang-toanquoc.com/.
How can you combat fake degrees?
Fake degrees can be a difficult and complex problem to address. Fake degrees are multi-national and hard to trace. They also feed the insatiable demand for academic qualifications. While Eaton and Ezell note that it’s difficult to establish a definitive blacklist of fake colleges as well as degree mills (and the scammers are adept of changing their names as well as web domains) They also suggest that employers do thorough background checks on their employees by contacting credible education institutions and contacting institutions that awarded the degrees.
The ease at that fake degrees are purchased and used undermines the value of actual qualifications, and can put lives in danger. The authors recommend more investigation using analytical tools in economics to examine the role of fake degrees as well as associated markets. For example, they suggest examining the costs of transactions and liability allocation. These issues could be studied with the help of club theory. This paper provides a first step toward such an analysis. Check out the additional document for further details. (Note: The authors would like to thank James Monroe University for providing access to the information used in the paper.
