Fake degrees from legitimate Indian universities that are widely available in the Middle East are heading south and may soon be used by fraudsters to secure high paying jobs in South Africa.
This is according to Danie Strydom of qualifications verification company QVS, who says: “For as little as R20 000 one can buy an MBA degree certificate from India while, a graduate degree certificate will cost you only R5 000. A diploma in a computer course is in demand and, therefore, sells for about R10 000.00.”
He says that because of the lucrative market for these bogus degrees that exists in South Africa he expects them to become available on the local market later this year.
The main market at the moment is the United Arab Emirates where the right certificate can command a high paying job and even a work visa.
Strydom warns employers to be aware of this problem and to ensure that they perform qualifications verification checks on all new employees. He says the fact that these institutions were real and offer a full verification service poses a major threat to employers and academic institutions alike.
“A student from one of these universities may present them with a “valid” B degree and then attempt to do a more advanced degree,” he explains. “At present more than 10% of all the qualifications we are asked to verify turn out to be bogus.”
Strydom points out that corporate South Africa is not as aware as they should be about just how vulnerable they are to bogus qualifications.
“We know from experience that degree fraudsters are often accomplished liars who can talk themselves into a job. Once employed, however, they are incapable of performing their duties and target specific companies to lay their hands on things like customer databases and bank account details,” Strydom says.
The fraud figure of 10% quoted by QVS is in line with statistics supplied by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) which states that close to 100 of the 1 200 degrees it recently tested for authenticity were false.
What makes the Indian degrees dangerous for South African employers is that the certificates are actually issued by a real university, says Strydom, and this is why attestation is also possible. However, the buyer just pays up and has never attended the university or an exam.
“There are many cases involving various universities. We are aware of the problem and strict measures are being put in place,” Rajasekharan Pillai, vice-chancellor of India’s Indira Gandhi National Open University.