Degree mills are proliferating the internet everyday, increasing the number of job applicants with fake degrees.
“Contact us now and receive your degree within days, and work towards improving your life.” This is how thousands of South Africans fall prey to fly-by-night degree mills, available on the internet.
Offering anything from a bachelor’s degree to a doctorate, 24 hours a day 7 days a week, the fake degrees are often advertised using email spam or superficial websites that have been neatly polished with persuasive marketing tactics.
Fighting degree mills
Perhaps one of the largest diploma mill busts was that operated by Axact, a Karachi-based software company in Pakistan that the New York Times claimed had made millions selling fake degrees through an expansive empire of bogus diploma and degree websites that the company had been operating for at least ten years.
There are so many secondary and tertiary institutions involved in degree milling – most based in the United States - that it has become impossible for background screening companies to say for sure how many of fraudulent qualifications have been taken at face value in South Africa.
Although these qualification verification companies have been battling the scourge of fake degrees for a long time, it is becoming very difficult to tell the real from the fake because many mills now offer a 24 hour verification service. However, it is easier to differentiate a fake degree than one that has been bought and has the look and feel of a real degree.
Related to: CV fraud: Job seekers lie
Many South Africans have paid for these fake degrees to progress in their careers, as witnessed with a number of government officials who have come under the spotlight.
Most recent is South African ambassador to Japan, Mohau Phekom who told the SABC that she had registered for and worked towards a degree with the American La Selle University in 2000. But on further inquiry she said the university had closed down before she could complete her studies.
Former KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman Vincent Mdunge was found guilty of using a fraudulent matric certificate when he joined the police in 1987.
Ensuring authenticity
Qualifications Verification Services say that the only foolproof way to confirm the authenticity of a job applicant’s qualification is during the screening process.
iFacts, a verification services company provides a number of comprehensive services to keep organisations and their employees safe, secure and honest. At cost effective prices, recruiters are provided with the option of verifying job candidates’ profiles, and job seekers can confirm the authenticity of their profiles too.
To find out more, log onto your Careers24 profile and click on the orange 'Allow verification' tab to enable recruiters to perform background checks on your profile.
