I happened upon an interesting story about some state troopers and the trouble they got into because they bought fake degrees online. Here’s the scoop: around a year ago, eight Washington state troopers submitted fake degrees online to their administration in order to receive promotions involving an increase in salary. The troopers suffered the consequences of their actions with a suspension without pay, a worthless piece of paper, a dent in their bank account, and, perhaps worst of all, deep embarrassment.

How did they get themselves into this mess? Simple: fake degrees online are big business. For a price, they offer a quick reward (a “diploma”) that requires no work. These fraudulent businesses are commonly referred to as diploma mills.

How to Detect You’re Dealing with a Diploma Mill

For the unsuspecting, the two main ways to avoid getting a fake degree online through a diploma mill are:

1. Make sure the online degree program you are considering is an accredited program offered by a legitimate, accredited school.
2. No legitimate college degree program will offer you a degree without you submitting and completing coursework and examinations.

Were The Troopers Duped?

The Washington state troopers claim that they did not know they were buying fake degrees online. Furthermore, they were considered good employees with solid reputations up until that point, which may explain why they were only suspended instead of fired.

Digging deeper into the story, however, good reputations or not, it becomes increasingly more difficult to believe the troopers. They are, after all, “trained investigators.” How could they not know that you cannot get an associate or bachelor’s degree by simply paying a fee and listing information regarding life and work experiences and salary? Because that is what they did.

If the Troopers Were Duped, How Did They Dupe the Administration?

The plot thickens as it is revealed that the state administration initially accepted these fraudulent degrees and granted pay increases on the strength of them, not realizing the diplomas were phony until, alas, a local newspaper did a story on diploma mills. In the story, the newspaper printed a list of 10,000 people nationwide who got fake degrees online, including those 8 troopers. Ouch. Talk about embarrassing.

What is the moral of this story?

The moral of this story is: don’t buy into getting fooled! When pursuing online degrees, make sure your school is accredited. In addition, if something seems too good to be true, like getting a “college degree” that you did absolutely no work for, it probably is.

(Image source, with thanks: Oregon Student Assistance Commission Office of Degree Authorization)

Don’t be Scammed! Earn a Legitimate Online Degree.