“Pssst! Wanna buy a fake degree?”

Thousands of people do so, every day.

Some consumers realize what they are doing, but an escalating number are being duped by online college scams that operate sophisticated Internet fraud schemes that promise consumers they can get a degree fast online. These phony online colleges thrive on selling fake diplomas.

Are degree mills really such a problem?

Most people assumed not—until 2003, when the U.S. Government Office of Accountability undertook the first study of government employees who used federal tuition aid programs to  buy a fake college diploma online.

That study, “Diploma Mills Are Easily Created and Some Have Issued Bogus Degrees to Federal Employees at Government Expense,” revealed an epidemic of false diplomas and education scams.

The Congressional investigation uncovered 400 government employees, including upper echelon managers, who had decided to buy a degree using government tuition assistance programs or who had listed bogus colleges on their job applications.