Technical Communication Certification: Beware of Fake Diploma Factories

Training and certification is important for all technical communicators who want to stay relevant, productive and happily employed.
However, when you are choosing a certification or diploma program for yourself, don’t fall for cash-for-diploma schemes.
If you want to read the amazing story of one such scam and that of George Gollin, the physics professor from University of Illinois who made it his mission to bust this crime ring, read the latest (January 2010)  issue of the WIRED magazine (“Summa Cum Fraud” by David Wolman).
In his comprehensive expose, Wolman reveals that these “diploma mills” sell about 200,000 fake degrees a year to customers from around the world. And some of those customers are employed even by the U.S. government.
“In 2003 an 2004, the [U.S.] Government Accountability Office surveyed just a handful of agencies and found 463 federal employees with fraudulent degrees.”
Read the Wikipedia article on one such now-defunct diploma mill

2 Comments

  1. fake diploma on November 23, 2010 at 5:57 am

    yes friends, its right to say “Beware of the fake diploma factories”. because now days some of the factories are misguiding the students towards the fake diplomas. so beware of it.



  2. ALEX on June 2, 2011 at 7:36 am

    HI, I M MR.MALAYSIA, I HAVE YEARS OF HOTEL TRAVEL MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE, BUT DON OBTAIN A DIPLOMA / DEGREE, AFTER YEARS, NOW I M IN MY 50S, MY NEW BOSS WAN ME SHOW A CERT, BUT I DON HAVE, CAN I BUY A FAKE ONE FROM DIPLOMAFAKE FACTORIES??? PLIS ADVISE, I NEED DESPERATELY YET URGENTLY NEED IT, APPRECIATE FO ADVISE