“Operation Gold Seal” Shuts Down Major Diploma Mill
Eight participants of a massive diploma-mill scheme have been successfully prosecuted. Documents in the case indicate that from August 1999, until August 2005, Dixie Ellen Randock, Steven Karl Randock, Sr., their daughter Heidi Kae Lorhan, Roberta Lynn Markishtum, Kenneth Wade Pearson, Richard John Novak, Blake Alan Carlson, and Amy Leann Hensley operated an Internet-based diploma business that sold false and fraudulent academic products. The government investigationâcalled “Operation Gold Seal”âconcluded that during this period, their business sold 10,815 fake credentials to 9,612 people in 131 countries for a total of $7,369,907 [1]. The products included counterfeit high school diplomas, college and graduate-level degrees (e.g., Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Sciences, Master of Arts, Master of Sciences, and Doctor of Philosophy), fabricated academic transcripts, and âprofessorships.â The …
Continue Reading >Rep. Bishop Announces Bill to Stop Diploma Mills
Congressman Tim Bishop (D-NY) unveiled new legislation to shut down fraudulent âDiploma Millsâ across the country. These fraudulent businesses market worthless degrees, tricking students out of hard-earned dollars and deceiving employers by falsely claiming an attained level of skill or achievement. Moreover, diploma mills create critical issues of personal and national security via their issuance of fraudulent scientific degrees that can be utilized to obtain entrance visas into the United States. âDiploma mills have proliferated rapidly in recent years, creating dangerous vulnerabilities to our national security, while simultaneously undermining legitimate American institutions of higher education,â said Bishop, a member of the House Education and Labor Committee, who has worked on this issue for several years. âThe Federal government can do more to protect the American …
Continue Reading >Diploma Mill Functions as Immigration Scam
Samuel Chai Cho Oh, 65, who operates California Union University (CUU) in Fullerton, California, has been charged with operating a scheme that enabled foreigners to enter and remain in the United States by pretending that they were students at his school. The CUU Web site states that CUU was founded in 1979 and received approval from the California State Department of Education in 1986. The California Postsecondary Education Commission Web site describes CCU this way: California Union University is established to train effective and helpful workers/students in various fields. CUU is dedicated to preparing men and women for a multiplicity of professional endeavors as well as to serve in the manifold ministries in local perishes, parachurch agencies, and educational institution [1]. Until October 2009, when …
Continue Reading >Connecticut Attorney General Warns of Bogus Medical Board Certification Scam Targeting Immigrant Doctors
Connecticut Attorney General’s Office Press Release, April 9, 2009 Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today announced an investigationâand issued an urgent warning to doctors and consumersâinvolving the sale of bogus medical board certifications. Blumenthal began an investigation after receiving a complaint from the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), one of the largest nationally recognized certifying boards for doctors. Board certification is not required to practice medicineâas opposed to a valid state medical license, which is necessaryâbut certification measures expertise and quality in medical knowledge. Certification is essential to recognition as a specialist, including admitting privileges at many hospitals, and assignment as a primary care physician for referrals by many insurance carriers. Blumenthal’s office has learned that an out-of-state individual known as Keith Alan Laskoâwho also …
Continue Reading >Trinity Southern University’s Operators Fined Thousands in Bogus Degree Scam
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has obtained judgments against two brothers who operated Trinity Southern University, a for-profit Dallas-based âuniversityâ that issued fraudulent degrees. Craig B. Poe agreed to pay $10,000 initially and another $6,000 in several installments to settle the Attorney General’s lawsuit against him, in which he was alleged to have offered deceptive degree programs. Alton S. Poe, who failed to respond to Attorney General Abbottâs December 2004 lawsuit, was assessed a default judgment ordering him to pay a $100,000 penalty, plus more than $15,000 in state attorneysâ fees. Permanent Injunction against Craig and Alton Poe The Poe brothers had been fraudulently promoting the for-profit âdiploma millâ university as an accredited institution offering bachelorâs, masterâs and doctorate âdegreesâ via advertisements on the universityâs …
Continue Reading >FTC Consumer Alert: Diploma Mills: Degrees of Deception
Are you ever tempted by an email or an ad claiming you can âearn a college degree based…on life experienceâ? Donât be, say attorneys for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Americaâs consumer protection agency. Chances are good that the ad is for a âdiploma mill,â a company that offers âdegreesâ or certificates for a flat fee, requires little course work, if any, and awards degrees based solely on life experience. Most employers and educational institutions consider it lying if you claim academic credentials that you didn’t earn through actual course work. Federal officials say itâs risky behavior: If you use a so-called âdegreeâ from a diploma mill to apply for a job or promotion, you risk not getting hired, getting fired, and in some cases, …
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