The online counterfeit degree market

One just need to type ‘mua bang dai hoc gia re’ (bachelor’s degree wanted at reasonable prices) on Google to find hundreds of websites and addresses that sell counterfeit degrees. 

Some sellers even make transactions via their Facebook pages.

To persuade buyers to buy his ‘products’, D, an administrator of a website, had a livestream on his Facebook. D showed wads of counterfeit documents of different kinds, identity cards, driving licenses and high school diplomas and bachelor’s degrees to prove his ‘production capacity’. 

He also talked about the prices of each kind of document, the time needed to get documents, and methods of payment.

After watching the livestream, reporters called D, the owner of the counterfeit degree ring. D received ‘clients’ warmly and set an appointment in HCM City.

Everything was surprisingly simple. “I can provide all kinds of documents. The procedures are very simple. You don’t need to pay a deposit. You pay on delivery, either via bank or give money to the shipper,” D said.

He affirmed that he can also provide ‘special documents’, such as a certificate on mental health which allows someone to avoid military service. His technology is so ‘modern’ that he can make documents like samples provided by clients.

While D is ‘famous’ in HCM City as the leader of such a big counterfeit degree ring, NVH is known in Hanoi and has a Facebook with thousands of followers.

Each counterfeit bachelor’s degree is VND4-5 million. The price, according to a woman who got a job with the degree, is ‘very reasonable’ compared with the benefits it can bring. 

D promises to provide degrees after two to three days. If buyers want to get the degrees sooner, they will have to pay additional money.

The sellers always say that the degrees they provide are ‘real’, i.e. they are from universities, and only the names of cardholders are ‘fake’. However, in fact, both the signatures and stamps are counterfeited.

Some universities in Vietnam confirm that they have discovered five to seven fake bachelor’s degrees a week. All types of degrees can be counterfeited, from driving licenses to foreign language certificates. Foreign counterfeit degrees have also turned up in Vietnam already.

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Nam Mai