Degree forgers facing joint investigation

FORGERS charging thousands for fake degrees from Australia’s leading institutions could be facing serious consequences.

Generic screengrabs of University of Sydney

FORGERS selling fake degrees and diplomas from nearly 100 of Australia’s leading institutions could be facing serious consequences from the Chinese government.

The higher education regulator says it will work with the Chinese Ministry of Education to investigate a sophisticated forgery business charging up to $6500 for the fake qualifications, revealed by news.com.au on Monday.

“Overseas Students Assistant HD”, which operated on a popular Chinese-language social media app, was selling forgeries from 42 universities and 53 TAFEs around the country, allegedly made using the same parchment stock as genuine qualifications.

Before taking down its page on Tuesday, the business also claimed to be able to input the fake study records into the official online register run by the Chinese Ministry of Education.

The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) has written to all higher education providers to ensure they aware of the allegations and to confirm that providers have appropriate controls to protect the integrity of student records and maintain confidence in the authenticity of the qualifications awarded to students.

“TEQSA will also work with the Chinese Ministry of Education to seek their assistance in investigating these allegations,” a spokesman said.

On Wednesday, China’s official government news service, Xinhua, picked up the story, which was then reposted on a number of sites including micro-blogging service Weibo, where many users condemned the fraud.

Vivienne Bath, Professor of Chinese and International Business Law at the University of Sydney, said depending on how it was carried out, the activity could constitute a number of different offences under Chinese law.

A government official accepting bribes faces between five and 10 years behind bars, for example, while those paying the bribes could face up to five years.

“But if you start getting into government databases and falsifying information, you could potentially end up with a state secrets offence, which would not be very nice at all,” Professor Bath said.

“In short, there are various legal ways they could get at you if they decided they wanted to.”

It comes amid fresh allegations of forgery, with former students spoken to by news.com.au claiming similar businesses have been operating and widely known within the Chinese student community for a number of years.

One UNSW economics graduate said these businesses were common knowledge among her international student friends during her time at the university three years ago.

“I was pretty shocked at the time,” said the 28-year-old, who did not want to be named. “It’s apparently pretty common in the Chinese community, and it’s become more widespread now with social media.”

She said she was annoyed to hear about the forgery, given many who purchased the degrees would go on to apply for the same jobs as genuine graduates. “We pay money to go to uni, we try to study hard to get our degree — to find out others can just go and purchase it makes you think, what’s the point?”

The Australian reported yesterday that a number of similar websites, including one called GW Diploma8 and Documents Centre, also provide the same service.

According to employment background verification service Verify, around 11 per cent of all qualifications it checks turn out to be fraudulent.

Verify head Hosay Mangal told The Australian she had noticed a significant increase in falsified or non-completed qualifications over the past five years.

“There’s a portion of falsified qualifications obtained from degree mills, where they are directly bought, and there’s that awkward situation where a candidate insists it’s authentic and the institutions don’t have it on record,” she said.

She added that the largest number of falsified certificates were used to gain access to entry-level positions where graduate places were scarce.

On Monday, a spokesman for Education Minister Christopher Pyne said forgery and related activities are criminal matters that must be investigated by relevant authorities.

“The Government is committed to assuring the reputation of Australian higher education and vocational education and training for both domestic and international markets,” he said.

A number of universities have come forward to condemn the scam, including Bond and Griffith on the Gold Coast, the Australian National University and the Australian Catholic University.

“The ANU takes the issue of fraudulent documents very seriously, and has a number of measures in place to help protect the reputation of the University and its students,” an ANU spokesman said.

“The ANU includes a range of security elements, such as holograms, in its award documents which make them more difficult to copy. The ANU also encourages employers or people with concerns to check an applicant’s qualifications with the University.”

A spokeswoman for the Australian Catholic University said: “Australian Catholic University takes the issue of security around student information and the provision of false information, including fake degrees, very seriously.

“The University has a process for verifying whether academic transcripts and testamurs are genuine. ACU has a high level of vigilance and monitoring of its information systems to ensure the integrity of student data.”

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A website called Diploma8 also advertises fake Australian qualifications.