It’s surprising there are so many: 1,762 fake institutions worldwide with another 1,545 filed as “suspicious” according to Verifile. The US has the most – 810 – and the UK comes in second with 271.
One can only imagine the number of bogus degrees produced!
I will admit to be fascinated by prominent people buying online degrees, in much the same way others follow the latest romances of stars. In Degrees by Mail: Look what you can buy for only $499!!! I wrote about the US$499.00 purchase of an online degree by someone who should have known better and didn’t even seemingly need the degree. In The Stripper and the Bogus Online Degree I wrote about “A former stripper, known professionally as Princess Cheyenne, [who] was found guilty of 19 of 25 counts ‘of fraud and larceny for posing as a licensed psychologist for seven years and treating clients'” because her degree was not legitimate.
Moral here: if it sounds too good to be true it probably is – and it may be worth the effort of checking credentials before you hire or do business with anyone.