Fake degree qualifications could be misleading employers

Thousands of Brits have bought fake degrees from so-called ‘diploma mills’, a BBC Radio 4 investigation has found, raising fears they could be used to mislead recruiters and hiring managers.

One degree mill, named Axact, operates a network of hundreds of fake online universities run by agents out of a Pakistan-based call centre. Fake degrees appear to be issued from bogus universities, with names such as ‘Baychester’, ‘Brooklyn Park’ or ‘Nixon’.

According to documents seen by BBC Radio 4's File on Four programme, more than 3,000 fake Axact qualifications were sold to UK buyers in 2013 and 2014, including master's degrees, doctorates and PhDs.

Former FBI agent Allen Ezell, who has been investigating Axact since the 1980s, warned the BBC that some employers are failing to properly vet employees. "Employers are not doing their due diligence in checking out the papers, so it makes [fake degree scams] work,” he said. “It's the damnedest thing we've ever seen."