Actually, @justonedad I have been a full-time homeschooling teacher for over 2 decades, so no. But I don’t doubt their existence. I was asking bc someone posted (I think it was Blossom) that if they had your social security number they were probably requesting the info. She didn’t mention anything else. It is why I wondered bc I would expect the applicant would already know it was being verified if they signed a waiver.
I can’t imagine the OP scenario in the first place. Just trying to understand how it works.
It seems to me that if I were going to get a fake diploma, I would get (or make) one that looked exactly like a legitimate one. You’d have to be a real dummy to get a fake diploma that looked fake.
Many people have a hard time imagining that things go on above their level of functioning. If you are dumb, how are you supposed to “know” that the certificate you just purchased looks fake?
Yes, I have seen a fake diploma. It did look similar, but was off enough to be noticeable to our staff. I would guess that this student represented themselves as a graduate for a job and the human resource department probably contacted our registrar’s office to verify the education/degree of the applicant (which by the way, requires that the student have a signed release to be supplied by the verification company to the registrar’s office – no verbal or written information is provided without this release!). No degree was granted, applicant may have been asked to prove their degree, and then showed a copy of their diploma. You do end up getting caught in the end. Just not worth it!
Diplomas on the wall - we like to call them “Ego Walls”. Once open office plans became prevalent, lots of diplomas came out of the private offices and into the attic boxes. With the number of fake diplomas out there, its a wonder why anyone would ever request one as evidence of attending any higher ed institution, and simply do due diligence on one’s resume. It does make me want to look a little further into some professional’s degree claims now.
I’ve never heard of a place that requires a diploma to prove a degree. Places always want transcripts or some form of official communication from the college that you completed the degree requirements.
My actual college diploma looks kind of easy to make at home to be honest. I agree that most of the time you have to get an official transcript or some kind of verification directly from the college, not just a piece of paper that you could have lost 20 years ago for all you know.
That’s true. I think of it from the perspective of a degree mill though; the whole point of their entire business to get people to think that their college degrees are convincing enough to fool employers. If you’re basically a forger by trade, your work shouldn’t be obviously counterfeit or else you’re not a good forger.
@blossom, when you get one of those resumes which turns out to be fraudulent, what do you do? Do you inform the applicant that you busted him/her, or do you just toss the resume and tell the applicant that “the position has been filled”?
I was thinking of people putting up their diploma on the wall, normally referred as the “I love me wall” in the army. I forgot with cubicles, most people wouldn’t post their diploma on a cubicle wall. With the diploma out in the open, anyone could view it and that would be how a forgery would be found.
Outside of my doctor’s office, I don’t think I’ve seen a diploma on the wall of an office in the past 20 years. And I sit in a lot of offices of pretty accomplished business people. I just didn’t think that was done anymore…at least not in the areas of business that I find myself. I’m not sure I could find mine if I was asked for them.
I agree, EllieMom. In our profession / circles, that would be pretty strange to find someone displaying a diploma. That’s the world of lawyers and maybe doctors.
Does not really matter today, I graduated UW Madison in 1990 before all computerized but my past job would do a simple check to see if I indeed graduated. When I hire people I do the same thing, make sure the prospect actually has a degree in what they say. In the past if was not that easy, today easy as can be.
My Ivy diploma was mounted and framed for me as a gift from the wife. Ironic thing? It looks fake as heck! Simple black script (all in Latin) on a piece of parchment. If you look closely, there’s an embossing. But it’s completely mono-tone – and looks like you could create it at Office Depot. Hahaha
The full freight cost of one of these nowadays is about $300K. *couldn’t you have at least had some gold embellishment or something? Hunh?
A few years back, one of my tax clients hired a CFO who held himself out as a PhD in accounting from Northwestern. It struck me as odd, because the position (small pre-revenue start-up) seemed like a strange gig for a man of his credentials. Dealing with him, I was a little surprised by his lack of experience with what would seem to be routine tax & accounting functions. We later came to find out he was lying about the PhD (and who knows what else).
Few years back when I was applying for a work permit at another country, they asked me for a certified college diploma. It was going to be a pain to get it from my school and time was of essence to me. I was fortunate I was able to find my diploma to get it certified. I would advise your kids not to lose their diploma, just in case.
This is a true story. At my first job working at an IB many moons ago, one IT guy fabricated his transcript and his college degree. He was later found out and was fired. Few days later he came back with a gun looking for his supervisor. I sat on the same floor with IT, but I was not aware of it until it was all over. We were lucky no one got hurt.
Many years ago I worked in an office where every professional put their diplomas on the wall. A new professional was brought into the group, and when I went in to introduce myself and say hello, I noticed that one of the diplomas said “Dr. XXXXX, Ph.D.”. Well, thats redundant, and no reputable institution would make that mistake. Looked a little closer, and the graduate program was a diploma mill whose name I recognized from the back of an airline magazine. Turns out there were some strange things with the licensing exam reciprocity as well… It was awkward to have to bring this to the attention of the primary provider who owned this practice (and subleased space to the other providers), but his reputation was at stake, not to mention potential liability issues, and this subleasee did quickly leave.
Elliemom, I was required to have my diploma on site, and all of my licensing and certification displayed where anyone entering my room could see it (diplomas did not have to be displayed…but licenses and current certifications did).