Tuesday, August 27, 2002

Colleges Demand that Fakedegrees.com Remove Their Names From Its Web Site By DAN CARNEVALE Officials from several institutions have demanded that a company that sells fake diplomas over the Internet stop listing the colleges' names on its Web site. The company, fakedegrees.com, has complied with many of the cease-and-desist requests, removing the names of the colleges that sent them. But hundreds of other institutions are still listed on the Web site, which allows anyone to purchase "authentic looking" diplomas that seem to come from those colleges. The company's Web site says that the fake diplomas are "intended for novelty purposes only." That disclaimer hasn't convinced officials at many colleges and universities that fakedegrees.com isn't a sham. In any case, college officials typically try to control who uses their institutions' trademarks. Barbara Button, the university Web coordinator for the University of Wisconsin-Stout, sent a short e-mail message to the company last week asking that her institution not be listed on the fakedegrees.com site. Within a day, the company responded that the university's name and the link to its Web site had been removed. In the correspondence, however, the company did not say whether it would stop creating replica diplomas with the university's name. The Web site states that the company will make fake diplomas from colleges not listed on the site if a customer so requests. College officials say they haven't heard of anyone's having tried to use phony diplomas from fakedegrees.com to get a job or for other fraudulent behavior. Preventing a company from printing fake diplomas could prove to be difficult, Ms. Button says. "I don't know that it's an actual threat" to anyone, she says. "But I can see people hanging it on a wall, and that would be deceptive at a casual glance." The push to prevent fakedegrees.com from listing institutions by name came after the issue was brought up on Internet e-mail lists. Some institutions are still awaiting a response from the company, while others say their cease-and-desist requests were honored within an hour. Fakedegrees.com, which appears to be based in Spain, could not be reached for comment. The fake diplomas are offered to anyone who pays the $75 fee for a six-month membership. The Web site does not list any additional cost for the bogus degrees, but members can receive no more than five. Currently Fakedegrees.com only offers phony diplomas. But the company says on its Web site that it will soon be offering fake transcripts, references, and letters of recommendation to paying members. Background articles from The Chronicle: Illinois Board Backs Plan to Fight Phony Degrees (4/19/2002) Australia and New Zealand Consider Database to Combat Fake Degrees (3/5/2002) New Zealand Universities Consider Lawsuit Against Sites Selling Diplomas in Their Names (2/11/2002) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

Harvard Law School, in shift, will allow military to recruit at campus office State-based merit-aid programs do little for needy students, report says SUNY restores study-abroad program in Israel at governor's suggestion ACT will offer optional writing test as part of its entrance exam Gender gap in college may be traced to attitudes during junior high, researchers say Clerical workers start 3-day strike at Berkeley; lecturers prepare to join job action 11 colleges announce events to mark the anniversary of September 11 Colleges demand that Fakedegrees.com remove their names from its Web site Companies and colleges scramble to meet new requirements for foreign students