FTC Takes Aim at Diploma Mill Scammers

The Federal Trade Commission, America's watchdog consumer agency, has issued yet another warning about an education-related scam. The FTC's missive, entitled "Diploma Mills: Degrees of Deception", takes dead aim at diploma mills, a particularly insidious form of online trickery that plays on the country's love affair with distance learning and online degrees. Victims of the scam respond to an email message promising a college-level degree based solely on their extensive life experience, all in exchange for a relatively modest, one-time fee. For some, the fact that little, if any, course work is ever required makes the offer virtually irresistible.

In some ways, diploma mills have been a scam waiting to happen. Distance learning and legitimate online degrees from accredited institutions like the University of Phoenix, Westwood College or Kaplan University have made it easier than ever for Americans to better their lot through education. An online degree is the first step towards better pay and better career prospects.

While legitimate online degrees are now widely accepted by employers as proof of a job candidate's education qualifications, it's safe to say employers will not easily suffer the embarrassment of hiring a "diploma mill" graduate. If you get caught holding a diploma mill degree when applying for a job or - perhaps even worse - a graduate degree program, expect to be shown the door in no uncertain terms.

According to the FTC, diploma mills trolling for "graduates" often set their hook and then reel in their catch using a spurious claim of accreditation. By claiming to be "accredited", a diploma mill can easily create a sense of security in those it targets.

While many people know that American colleges and universities voluntarily have their curriculum reviewed as part of the accreditation process, few are well acquainted with the roughly six regional and eighty professional accrediting associations in the United States. When a diploma mill makes up an official sounding name for its supposed accrediting agency, it's easy to be fooled. One way to confirm a school's accreditation credentials is by checking the database of accredited colleges and universities at the website of the Department of Education.

Of course, says the FTC, a claim of accreditation is really just the icing on the cake for diploma mill scammers. If they're going to take the bait, most recipients of an email offering a diploma mill degree are already sucked into the scam by the idea of having their life experience "formally" recognized, especially if they don't have to wait for the degree to be issued and don't need to attend classes. But there are other giveaways, too, that an email offer of a degree isn't everything it's cracked up to be.

Topping the list, perhaps, is the ubiquitous offer of a degree in exchange for a one-time fee. Legitimate online colleges and universities charge by the credit hour, reminds the FTC, and not by the degree. Also, an instant degree offer in the form of an unsolicited email or online pop-ups is almost certainly a scam. Finally, be on the lookout for imitative names. While not always a dead giveaway - some search engine marketers legitimately target common misspellings of a university's name - diploma mills like to choose names that intentionally mimic the names of famous colleges and universities, a practice that goes so far as to proffer on-the-spot degrees from institutions with foreign names that seem both persuasive and credible.