Directory of Schools Advises Consumers On How To
Avoid Scam Colleges
The next time you walk into your doctor’s
office, carefully check out the college diplomas and medical degrees
on the wall. No doubt, you will feel a sense of peace knowing that
your physician has completed all of the educational training and
met all of the professional requirements necessary to practice medicine.
But what if the degrees hanging on the wall are worthless –
would you know? Unfortunately, most of us would not.
Fake college degrees are estimated to generate
well over $200 million a year; and the damage from this unregulated
industry is substantial. Nothing is sacred, as fake doctors, lawyers,
scientists, engineers and others weave their way up coveted professional
ladders at the expense of the unsuspecting public. But it is ultimately
the public that has the power to choke off the flow of money into
this illegal cesspool, shrinking the profits of these scam artists
and forcing them out of business.
Silence is not Golden
The media has often portrayed “fake diploma”
stories in the news as humorous or entertaining, bundled along with
the latest celebrity tidbits. For example, a recent story in the
Canadian Press was entitled, “Lawyer Claims Ohio Police Dog,
Chief Have Degrees from Same Online College” (March 1, 2007).
And though a few chuckles may have been heard, the alarm bells and
indignation that should have resounded were remarkably silent.
This silence has encouraged the proliferation
of charismatic con artists, armed with a little bit of knowledge
and a variety of bogus college degrees. These highly-respected degrees,
usually earned through years of diligent study and training, are
the calling cards of our experts -- the healers, researchers, problem-solvers
and quality-control specialists. We rely on their expertise and
trust them when they tell us that our bodies are healthy, our cars
are safe to drive, our food is safe to eat, or that the nuclear
power plant nearby is safe. But when the expert is not really an
expert, it is often impossible for us to see beyond the sparkling
diploma on the wall.
FBI Hits Gold Brick Wall
Degree Mill watchdog, John Bear, contributed
his expertise by helping now-retired FBI Agent Allen Ezell in Operation DipScam. The task force closed down 40 fake colleges from 1979-1992.
In John Bear's informative articles about fake college degrees, he explained that even
the FBI could not stop diploma mills from operating. Why?
Because there is a multi-million dollar market for their product
fueled by individuals and businesses.
And because the advertising money paid by these
bogus diploma mills is substantial, this money tree is picked often
by widely-read newspapers and magazines. When a reputable newspaper
or magazine runs an ad for a fake college next to an ad for an esteemed
institution, the public is tricked into believing that both schools
offer a quality education. This is a confusing and profit-driven
practice by media outlets that needs to end.
Help for Crooks from Trusted
Search Engine
Unfortunately, the problem of fake college degrees
has transformed from an elusive underground threat to an online
epidemic that is neither harmless nor obvious.
Ultra-successful search engine Google
, whose motto is "Do No Evil", allows diploma mill
web sites to be listed in the top-searched education keyword results.
Support from trusted media and internet sources continues to give
diploma mills a public perception of credibility, especially when
Google enables them to thrive financially and channels their fraudulent
scams and unwanted spam into innumerable, unsuspecting households.
Diploma mills usually hail from foreign countries
and are adept at quickly reinventing themselves when exposed.
They are skilled at tricking the search engine algorithms, and may be listed above reputable
accredited online degrees web sites
when a specific education keyword is typed into the search engine. After all, diploma mills
are in the fraud business; and without intervention from the popular
media businesses behind which they hide, there is little to stop
them from selling their insidious wares.
Pressure from the public may help in convincing
Google to end their “turn a blind eye” policy regarding
these illegal profiteers. It is important to contact Google at the
following link to report education spam
results received from diploma mills while online:
What You Don't Know Can
Hurt You
Not all purchasers of phony degrees can be considered
to be gullible innocents, but those who are victimized often miss
the warning signals indicating that something is wrong. So individuals
end up shelling out a few hundred to a few thousand dollars to obtain
the piece of paper that proves they have arrived – a diploma.
Many years later, when the ‘graduate’ is enjoying career
success that was jump-started by that fake degree, the phony credentials
are often discovered, wreaking all kinds of havoc – including
job loss. It is important to understand how online
education providers work, and to search out reputable
online schools .
By Vida Lynne Olivier
Copyright 2007. All Rights Reserved. |
