Why earn an education when you can buy a degree for $4000?

excuse me, Field.

Not all jobs require the use of extensive knowledge or specific skills right away. Sometimes there is a probationary or training period to start with. Perhaps it is an entry-level position that they are applying for and extensive training will be provided. Some people who try this may only want/need to stick around long enough, before becoming fired for incompetence, until the find the next unsuspecting victim. Perhaps the idea is to do as much damage as you possibly can for as long as you can get away with it.

Don't misunderstand me, of course it isn't right for someone to fraudulently represent themselves in order to gain employment. Unfortunately, I think this practice is becoming more and more rampant. I can't understand why the company that you worked for didn't do the required background check before they hired him in the first place. It is always easier and less costly to prevent mistakes, then to try and deal with problems after they occur. A former Liberal member of Canada's federal parliament was caught lying about his credentials. Check out Jag Bhaduria at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jag_Bhaduria He was caught lying about his education and credentials. This was after it was discovered that he cheated in his Liberal Party nomination election by signing up people ineligible to vote, people listed with unknown addresses, people who didn't pay for party memberships and people who were unaware that they were party members. Canada's Federal Parliament doesn't even have a process to recall members for any reason let alone fraud. Talk about a disaster waiting to happen. By its own actions, the Canadian government shows time after time that it isn't serious about addressing problems with fraud. What does it take for these so called officials to take fraud seriously. It's not just degrees that are for sale. I hear that the Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, was looking to sell the Senate seat previously held by Barack Obama.

$4000 is less than tuition for one semester at many Universities in North America for citizens. Tuition for foreign students is considerably higher. Of course you can get counterfeit degrees for less money, but the forged degrees that Peng Sun was creating were so good that the registrar of a University and an expert in high-tech crime were unable to tell the difference between the real document and the fake document. "I've never seen quality like this,"Det. Mathew Ma, an expert on high-techcrime, told reporters. "I can't tell the difference between the false and the originals." I don't know where you come from but, in Canada, a degree alone won't get you the job. Good luck even trying to get an interview let alone being hired with an international degree that doesn't come from a trusted Western Nation here in Canada. Unfortunately, now it looks like documents from our own educational institutions may become suspect. There have been known cases of foreigners posing as doctors and performing surgery and cosmetic surgery on patients here in Canada. This type of fraud doesn't come victimless. I am surprised that you would openly admit to a willingness to engage in fraud. It is a serious crime in Canada to knowingly use a forged document to gain employment: "But passing off a fake degree as an original in a job application would amount to the offence of uttering a forged document. It could be as serious as using a counterfeit bill." Unfortunately, governments' and business' rush for cheap foreign labor puts the credibility of our institutions in question and the lives of our citizenry at risk.

Indeed, it would do harm when people use the fake degree to take a job. But small companies seems don't care that much because these guys agreed to be paid lower than the average rate of the bachleor employees. And small companies don't really care to call the universities and make a cross check about the guy who are going to work at their place. At least that's what happened in Indonesia for now.

Wow! klaudine, your comments about small business in Indonesia are news to me. I will have to plead ignorance as I have never visited Indonesia and I am not well versed in business practices there. I do wonder though, why bother to go through with the formalities if small business isn't really concerned with hiring actual graduates? This attitude seems quite reckless to me. If you hire an employee who is willing to lie right from the start of their new working relationship with anyone, how could you possibly trust anything coming from them later? If they conduct themselves fraudulently while searching for work, why not continue with that conduct when employed?

Peng Sun is a Chinese national. I am glad that the Toronto Star brought this incident to my attention, but this particular case shows that Canada, our educational institutions and our graduates aren't the only ones who are being hurt. Many of the people buying these forged degrees are going back to their home countries, in this case China was mentioned, and defrauding government and business there. There is a lot of Infrastructure being built in China at the moment. How would you feel about some fake grad working as an engineer on bridge, road, high-rise building or nuclear power plant construction? Do you really want a fake doctor or surgeon in charge of your family's health? Many professional careers cannot be entered into without a degree in that field. If your friend has many years of experience, then he must already be doing the job and he doesn't need the degree for proof. Some companies still request a degree, because they require proof of knowledge of certain standards and practices. I would really like to know what measures my government is taking to address the danger of document fraud. Do they really know who it is that they let into the country?

A fool and his money are soon parted. There is a reason why the credibility of documents from non-Western foreign universities is nill in Canada. Nobody in Canada will recognize foreign credentials coming outside of trusted Western nations. Those people with unrecognized foreign credentials must retrain in Canada at considerable expense. Is it any wonder that some of these people may take the easy route and obtain forged degrees from Canadian Colleges and Universities? Soon enough it will degrees from Canada that won't be accepted in foreign nations if this problem isn't taken seriously.

You are welcome JAGANPADIR. Canadian institutions do use unique designs, watermarks, anti-counterfeit devices, exclusive raised seals, stamps and signatures to counteract forgery. Unfortunately, forgery is a lucrative business and I'm sure that the counterfeiters are capable of getting their hands on and purchasing the same type of equipment that the Colleges and Universities use. If the counterfeiting ring can get hired at the institution or have a member of the ring attend or receive a degree from that educational institution, then the ring can easily get their hands on original documents. This is why it is important to know exactly who you are dealing with and why governments need to be very selective with who they allow to enter and work in the country and businesses have to be very careful with whom they hire.

It's harder for people with forged documents to land a job in North America because a degree alone won't get you a job. A lot of the time, just having a degree isn't even enough to land you an interview. Most North American businesses require extensive work experience that was acquired in trusted Western nations before they will consider a candidate. Unfortunately, this isn't the case for every workplace and the rules get relaxed for institutions with quotas. What about entry-level jobs within the government? I don't know about the U.S., but our government hires plenty of immigrants to work for them so that the workplace is more representative of the community. I already know that in many cases the Canadian government can't verify all documents when allowing entry into the country. In some cases, the Canadian government allows refugees entry into the country on compassionate grounds, government officials accept people without documents altogether. The excuse given is usually that the asylum seekers had to destroy their documents to avoid detection or they had their documents confiscated by the government of the country that they are attempting to escape from. Not everyone who will attempt this fraud will be poor. If you've got the money to buy the degree, then perhaps you already have the money to start the business/practice. Of course when someone is willing to pay for a fake degree and live a lie, what stops them from going a little further and lying about work experience? I suppose this is why North American businesses refuse to accept work experience from certain nations. Peng Sun and his counterfeit ring were willing to pose as the University/College officials/contacts too and included this service in their $4000 fee. When the business/institution calls to verify the information, Peng Sun is their to answer the call. It's all in the article whose link I posted in the OP. I'm sure that this tactic can be used for fake work experience or whatever. I'm positive that some people in North America already employ this tactic. What about the people who start up their own practice/business? There have been known cases in Ontario where an unqualified person with fake degrees poses as a doctor and performs surgery on unsuspecting patients. You don't have to stay in business forever, just long enough to make a lot of money and then print up some new documents and setup shop in a new location.