That doesn’t make them fake degree mills, which provide no classes, require no work and often exist only online. As Ezell tells it, the 64 fake bachelors, master’s and doctorates he holds were obtained with money, sometimes claims of “life experience” and “really not doing any work.” The most work he ever did for a fraudulent degree was a four-page paper for a master’s. Today, presumably, he could have spit the paper out with ChatGPT.
When the criminal case was first made public by the DoJ, local reports stated that many of the students were migrants who had wished to become legitimate nurses. Jones confirmed this was the case, arguing they had been the victim of a lack of knowledge of the U.S. education system. At the time, it was unclear how many of the students caught up in the scheme were aware of the fraud or were, as Omar Perez Aybar, a Department of Health and Human Service agent, described “willing but unqualified individuals.” Ms. Adrien was the president of a company that had advertised itself on social media as “a group of nurses and doctors who want to empower men and women by helping them to become health care providers,” prosecutors said.
Five people have pleaded guilty in South Florida to participating in a wire fraud schemethat created an illegal shortcut for aspiring nurses to get licensed and find employment. Tuition and fees are charged on a per-degree basis rather than by term or by course. Diploma mills are often advertised using e-mail spam or other questionable methods.
These companies also require a one-time transaction fee and will require little to no study in order to get it. Researchers from Sixgill have identified multiple vendors offering for sale degrees and accreditation, and the quality of the documents in some cases it high. According to Israeli threat intelligence firm Sixgill, certifications and fake diplomas are very cheap and easy to buy in the dark web.
A professional-looking degree should include details such as the university’s name, accreditation, seal, school logo, subject of study, candidate’s name, and dates. Here are things you should consider if you want to use a fake degree . Pakistan had asked U.S. authorities last year to help it investigate Axact, which had been suspected of earning millions of dollars from the sale of bogus university degrees online. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes.