| What's a diploma mill? Explanation is right at your | | | | going well, you are walking into an ambush. A great |
| finger tips. Just check out the entry in Webster's | | | | many people get their fake degrees revealed. |
| Third New International Dictionary: | | | | Who bites? Who actually believes that a counterfeit |
| "Diploma mill: An institution of higher education | | | | college education can have any benefit for them? |
| operating without supervision of a state or | | | | In analyzing why people believe this you could say, |
| professional agency and granting diplomas which are | | | | "my mother might believe that. My priest might |
| either fraudulent or, because of the lack of proper | | | | believe that. Sponge Bob might believe that. Most |
| standards, worthless..." | | | | people won't." Wrong! You'd be amazed at the |
| Many con men have found the lucrative field of | | | | number of people who have jumped at such |
| diploma mills--or degree mills--to be as good as gold. | | | | "opportunities." Perhaps, like so many others, they |
| In pursuing this line of con man endeavor they simply | | | | think they are thinking when they are only |
| practice Harley's First Law: You can lead a horse to | | | | rearranging their own prejudices. Envy? Jealousy.? |
| water, but if you can get him to float on his back, | | | | Greed? Who knows? Off the top, here is just a |
| you've got something. Think of how ridiculous this | | | | sampling: |
| whole concept is: just apply on the internet for a | | | | > A North Carolina man whose degree-verified |
| college degree and in a finger-snap moment, when | | | | medical clinic treated an 8-year old girl who died. |
| accompanied by a small fee, you have it. No fuss. No | | | | > Parlaying a $100 degree he'd "earned" from a |
| bother. No strain. Why, then, bother to attend college | | | | British degree mill, another North Carolina man raised |
| for four years or longer if your college education can | | | | venture capital to market an AIDs drug. He raised |
| be this quick and easy? This whole notion is so hard | | | | millions before getting caught. |
| to swallow--seemingly, a mystery solvable only by | | | | > A San Clemente, California man raked in |
| Scooby-Doo--yet it thrives. | | | | $10,000,000. He ran a fake degree operation that |
| Many of the "home" addresses of these hoax | | | | was located 2,000 miles from his home, in Louisiana. |
| perpetrators are nothing more than a post office box | | | | Some of these scam schools also provide a complete |
| or "mail drop." Remote regions of the U.S., like | | | | transcript. Some provide phone operators who will |
| Montana, which has loose standards, are often used | | | | verify graduation to inquiring employers. Some will |
| to locate these "institutions of higher learning." | | | | supply laminated student I.D. cards, and other |
| Alabama, Hawaii, Idaho, Wyoming, Mississippi, and | | | | proof-of-attendance records. A few even offer class |
| California, too, have either few standards or | | | | rings. |
| excessive loopholes. Mississippi has no oversight at all. | | | | With only some 35% of U.S. corporations |
| Unfamiliar European locations are also popular with the | | | | systematically verifying degrees as factual, is it any |
| con men, who, without conscience or any moral | | | | wonder why such a big market for fake college |
| standard to guide them, simply fall back on their basic | | | | degrees exists? |
| principle: that money is the root of all wealth. They | | | | If you try to fail and succeed, which have you |
| then follow this path accordingly: easy as | | | | accomplished? That's a good question for all the |
| falling-off-a-log education. | | | | people who are participating right alongside the con |
| Now you see it, now you don't. This particular | | | | men in perpetrating this in-your-face scam. |
| magician's appearance / vanishing act only proves | | | | This whole exercise seems like standing in a bucket |
| Murphy's Law of Combat #12: If your advance is | | | | and trying to lift yourself up by the handle. |