Why are these "schools" allowed to exsist?

I was searching for some inexpensive RA online masters programs, and the "University" popped up on google.

http://www.smellyschool.net*

Why are these programs allowed to sell these worthless degrees? Do the people that buy them really think that they can get a job with them?


* I changed the link. K

 

While a minority of people use fake degrees for employment, the majority likely only buy these degrees so they can claim, albeit deceptively, to have a degree. The second group of people typically qualify as 'vanity' degree seekers and never attempt to use the degree for purposes of employment or admission to graduate school. This is the reason diploma/degree mills are so very profitable. And to be sure these "schools" include a disclaimer to cover themselves.

 

Interesting. Talk about small egos wanting recognition for nothing...

 

Note that when you discuss obviously fake schools (and provide the web link), you are increasing their "importance" in the search engines. Sometimes it is better not to publicize harmful enterprises, to ultimately diminish their visibility.

 

Yes, take the link out in your posting. Inbound links from well-frequented pages like this forum mean better Google ratings.

 

Look around this "university's" elaborate website and see if you can locate their physical address. Try to find any mention of the country that it's supposedly in, for that matter. I didn't see it.

The site's server probably isn't in the same legal jurisdiction as its anonymous owner. The phones are answered in some boiler room somewhere else. If part of the operation is served with a court summons, it can be shut down and moved across a border overnight and be up and running again tomorrow.

It's an unfortunate fact that investigative procedures, statutes and rules of court are poorly equipped to deal with internet scams.

It isn't restricted to degree-mills either. That's just the tip of a polluted iceberg. There's spammers, hackers, pornography, online gambling, drug dealing, terrorist groups, money laundering, fake document sellers, pre-written term-paper perveyors, Nigerian princes who want to put huge sums of money into your bank account for no reason at all, phony bank and business websites warning you of serious trouble with your accounts and directing you to log in immediately using your account numbers, passwords and pins... there's no end of it.

Law enforcement is overwhelmed and typically just turns a blind-eye to most of it since its so difficult to prosecute. So a new class of online criminal and near-criminal makes lots of money with very little risk to themselves. The stuff that everyone used to say back in 1990 about getting rich simply by having a computer on the internet is true for some people, I guess, if people are sly and if ethics are factored out of the equation.

It's "internet marketing".

 

Internet degree mills routinely conceal their locations, which makes enforcement difficult. It's been reported that Ashwood "degrees" are shipped from Pakistan.

 

Some of the more notorious of diploma/degree mills openly state many of their "students" seek vanity degrees, apparently in the words of the purveyors, for greater social status. Some people are simply not willing to put forth the effort to earn a real degree. Sad, indeed.