www.zoominfo.com

I have found this useful little web-site www.zoominfo.com

It constructs biographies by trawling online public resources and provides summaries.

The most interesting part is that you can search these bios by university and a brief check shows 8 people quoting the University of Palmers Green which used a mailing box in London to forward things to Romania and was closed down (at least temporarily) by the FTC and London's Enfield Council.

I am sure there will be other equally interesting colleges quoted!

 

This is a fantastic tool. Thank you, Ian.

In ten minutes, I've found dozens of previously-unknown-to-me time bombs, including more than a few CEOs, CFOs, and COOs of large organizations. My favorite so far is the person in charge of educational workshops and programs for a large Florida city's chamber of commerce, with an advanced degree from St. Regis. And an evening news anchor for a Rhode Island station, with an Almeda degree.

The most common question I get from reporters is "How do we find people with fake degrees in our area?" Now there is a good answer.

What fun.

 

It is interesting. I looked up my name and it shows a previous employment of Andersonville Seminary.

My only connection with them was that I designed some counseling courses for them about 10 or so year's ago.

Check out Steve Levicoff. Under "Education" it says Christian' Mills.

 

A word of caution

I have tried a few further names and have found some 'false positives'. The search engine is not too specific if you just use the name and it is a common geographic name

E.g. someone might have attended a high school of the same name and this will register a hit. You need to read all the entry.

 

An example is Stafford University. You get a number of hits and, whereas some clearly state Stafford University, London (a degree mill) some people use Stafford University to mean the University of Staffordshire, a legitimate body registered with the DfES

 

Very interesting, thanks!

Apparently, some people will never get it, even after being featured on Good Morning America.

http://www.turtleltd.com/41701/41863.html

 

I put a certain person's name in, and it says he worked as a researcher for a certain infamous university.

So, let's just say that it's a flawed piece of software.

 

..... Which, used with care, caveats and cognizant of the potential limitations, can also, at least, do some of good.

Thanks.

 

Certainly. Just as long as one actually follows the links and sees how the references were formed.

 

Flawed but Usable Site

Thanks for the heads up. I did the same and couldn't believe the results: Dr. Neil Hayes working as an oncologist in Boston.

After I picked myself up off the floor and followed several links, I was relieved to find out that it was a different Dr. Neil Hayes (and one with a real degree, thank God). Further efforts also revealed showed the "other Dr. Neil Hayes" and correctly identified him as a conservationist and recipient of a QSM residing in New Zealand.

The site certainly has its limitations but hopefully will improve the quality of its searches in the future.

 

Great resource

Definitely a time saver, compared to Google and weeding through the ads / articles.

I looked up University of Northern Washington (Degree Mill, Closed by court Order, according to ODA), and found a couple dandies:

#1 - BBA, MBA, and PhD from the University of Northern Washington (a/k/a potential High School Graduate)

Was on The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, Good Morning America, CNBC, 20/20 and in The New York Times, Success Magazine, FORBES and other publications. Plus Entrepeneur of the Year.

#2 - MBA, Phd from University of Northern Washington

Spent the last 13 years in China building and managing businesses for Australian's biggest companies.

#3 - MBA from the University of Northern Washington, thought I saw a PhD "in progress" from Kennedy-Western on this same guy, but don't quote me. Director of Training and Cultural Diversity for a huge chain.

Simply amazing tool! The rest of my night is now shot.

Is anyone collecting these? I had a good chuckle over the old Good Morning America thread.