Search Page

The video focuses on the cases of "pirate" degrees in Mexico, especially degrees in nursing, medicine, and law. The report shows how they can be detected using new technologies.

In Spain, there are instances where individuals pay to obtain fake diplomas. A team of investigators contacted a company specializing in selling fake diplomas to find out how it works. This makes it easy to become a primary school teacher.

Diploma mills have been on the United States radar screen as far back as 1876. Today, credential fraud in higher education is a billion-dollar industry, by some accounts. It has spiralled into a major threat for employers and university admissions offices. And it spans the globe. The United States is home to the largest number of diploma mills, with more than 1,000 known operations in 2011, according to Verifile, a UK-based pre-employment screening company.

Bearing names similar to top universities, China's fake colleges woo and swindle high school graduates through slick recruitment websites. A list released by sdaxue.com, a site that helps students choose higher educational institutions, has exposed 60 Chinese "universities" or "colleges" as unaccredited diploma mills.