Anonymous Commenter Claims: "Fake diplomas are 100% legal."

Yet another Anonymous coward decided to comment, this time in response to my previous article on fake diplomas from December 2007: Fake Diplomas Are Illegal.

Here was his comment (dollars to donuts it's a man.):

Anonymous said...

Whomever made this post, isn't that bright!!! Is it illegal to pretend to earn credentials that you didn't, to gain advancement? YES! Absolutely! So, is it illegal to take a fake diploma and use to get a job? Yes. Is it illegal to buy a fake diploma and just hang on your wall? No. Is illegal to joke with your friends about graduating? No. This person is trying to take something that isn't black & white and making it black & white. Fake diplomas are legal. They are legal to buy. A lot of fake diploma companies take major credit cards. If it was illegal, Visa would not accept them! You can't use a Visa to buy meth! haha Fake diplomas are 100% legal. There are illegal acts you can do with it, but people need to be warned about that side of it, without being scared out of simply owning one.

You know, if you want to be taken seriously, "Anonymous", you should really not post anonymously. That and you should get your facts straight. Clearly you didn't read the article.

> Whomever made this post, isn't that bright!!!

Heck of a way to legitimize your post. I will, for now, ignore your stellar lack of skill in grammar and the use of punctuation.

"Whomever made this post?" It's pretty clear who I am. I've been at this for a while.

> Is it illegal to pretend to earn credentials that you
> didn't, to gain advancement? YES! Absolutely! So, is it
> illegal to take a fake diploma and use to get a job? Yes. Is
> it illegal to buy a fake diploma and just hang on your wall?
> No. Is illegal to joke with your friends about graduating?
> No.

Correction (and here it is clear you do not know the law): "Novelty" diplomas, only in a very small number of US states, are legal. The law has a pretty specific definition of that, thus the use of the word "Novelty".

I recommend that you read this website: counterfeitdegrees.com. They are a veritable cornucopia of information regarding the specific legalties of this industry.

On the main page you see the following:

Parallel to the types of fake degree consumer, are two types of fake degree businesses:

• Fake degree suppliers make no pretense of being colleges or leading consumers to believe their resumes can translate to real degrees. They unabashedly sell, advertise, and fiercely market "fake," "phony," "bogus," and "novelty" degrees.
• In comparison, diploma mills go to great lengths to create an illusion of reality and authority. Savvy marketing ploys and misleading information draws customers that may believe an evaluation essay or exam, combined with their resume, earns them an academic degree.

So you can't even just say that "selling fake degrees is legal", because that statement is trying to make things "black & white". It depends on how you word how you want to sell them, and for what purposes.

Further, there are indeed very specific federal and state laws covering this type of industry. You should most definitely read this link also, as it outlines each.

Let me show you, really specifically, a couple of very recent examples of this spam.

Subject: Get a diploma for a better job.

BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT! Is your lack of a degree holding you back from career advancement?
Are you having difficulty finding employment in your field of interest because you don?t have the
paper to back it up ? even though you are qualified?
If you are looking for a fast and effective solution, we can help!
Call us right now for your customized diploma: Inside U.SA.: 1-718-989-5740 Outside U.S.A.: +1-718-989-5740.
Just leave your NAME & TEL. PHONE # (with country-code) on the voicemail and one of our staff members will get back to you promptly!

Subject: Need a diploma? Call us.

BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT! Is your lack of a degree holding you back from career advancement?
Are you having difficulty finding employment in your field of interest because you don't have the
paper to back it up - even though you are qualified?
If you are looking for a fast and effective solution, we can help!
Call us right now for your customized diploma: Inside U.SA.: 1-718-989-5740 Outside U.S.A.: +1-718-989-5740.
Just leave your NAME & TEL. PHONE # (with country-code) on the voicemail and one of our staff members will get back to you promptly!

Note how the subject line of one of them directly states that this is to be used "for a better job"? Did you notice that? What about the use of the sentence "Is your lack of a degree holding you back from career advancement?". Nothing "jokey" about that, "Anonymous." These spammers - about whom I am specifically writing, because you might have noticed that this is a blog about spamming, and these fake diploma operations are promoted via criminal spamming - are not selling a diploma in the hopes that you just want to "joke with your friends about graduating". They are specifically saying: you "need" this diploma, because you can't advance in your career, or you are unable to get a better job without one.

Many other subject lines in recent messages make the claim that younger candidates are getting the job faster than you, therefor you would (again) "need" this fake diploma to stand out. This is not Novelty. This is a criminal act. It is extremely clear.

What's worse is, we're in a down economy, as you may have noticed. The enticement is even higher to purchase these as "proof" of someone's abilities since there are fewer and fewer jobs available. The spammers behind this know that that's the case, and recent spam volume in this sector is way higher than in previous years. You don't think this is dangerous? You think these spammers are really targetting unemployed professionals because they just want to "joke about" having a degree? Shame on you!

So I have to ask you, "Anonymous", where are the spam messages you apparently seem to be arguing with me about which only sell diplomas so you can "joke with your friends about graduating?" The only spam I've ever seen promoting diplomas are ones which very much get across that these are to be used to "get a better job."

Also: How much, reasonably, does a novelty degree cost? If I want to go to a joke shop and get a "PHd in Beerology", that's probably $20. Money not well spent, but that is probably the extent of that. The diplomas that these criminal diploma spam operations are selling often sell for upwwards of $400 apiece. It depends on the "degree" you want to get.

> This person is trying to take something that isn't black &
> white and making it black & white. Fake diplomas are legal.

On the contrary: you, "Anonymous", are trying to lump diploma spammers in with any other kind of seller of novelty diplomas. My posting was extremely clear, and I think any normal human being with eyes could tell the difference between a joke diploma that costs $20 which claims I have a "Masters in Fishing" and a $400 diploma claiming to be from the University of Arizona which claims I have a PHd in Nuclear Physics and has a pretty convincing looking embossed seal on very carefully watermarked paper.

> There are illegal acts you can do with it, but people need
> to be warned about that side of it, without being scared out
> of simply owning one.

They should sure as hell be scared of other people owning them if they're claiming to be a surgeon, a lawyer, an accountant, etc. Would you want surgery from someone based on their fake diploma?

I didn't say novelty diplomas were illegal, I said fake diplomas are illegal, and my posting went into a great deal of detail explaining why. The law is extremely clear, and the litany of ongoing court cases which have been taking place recently (and on a weekly or monthly basis since my original posting was published) is pretty conclusive evidence that selling fake diplomas is, indeed, illegal. Further: many states are actually now strengthening the law to include the manufacture of fake diplomas as an illegal act.

Quit posting anonymously, and don't be so facile about this topic.

SiL

Further Reading:

• Earth Times News: Resumes That Can Kill: Fraudulent Credentials a Growing Threat, Says Scherzer International
• NBC 15, Madison, Wisconsin: Doyle Signs Bill Cracking Down On Diploma Mills
• Stuff.co.nz: Victoria University busts most cheats

P.S. You'll notice I didn't even bother to go into the legality of fake transcripts. Want to try me on that one?