I try to keep up with diploma mill action around the country. If for no other reason than the hysterical chuckle it gives me when I read their misguided e-mail. I received one recently that was quite humorous.
Subject: You are nominated for the MBABacheelor, MasteerMBA, and Doctoraate diplomas available in the field of your choice that's right, you can even become a Doctor and receive all the benefits that comes with it!
Our Diplomas/Certificates are recognised in most countries
No required examination, tests, classes, books, or interviews.
** No one is turned down
** Confidentiality assured
CALL US 24 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK
For US: 1-781-634-7970
Outside US: +1-781-634-7970
"Just leave your NAME & PHONE NO. (with CountryCode)" in the voicemail
our staff will get back to you in next few days
Now if I were going to send out a spam message trying to lure unsuspecting people into giving me money, the first thing I would do is run a spell-checker. Another good way to detect if this is a scam is to
plug in the phone numbers into Google. That will tell you the story.
The reason we have spam at all is because a small percentage of people will reply to them. If nobody replied, spam would disappear. Unfortunately, there are probably still some people out there that will take advantage of this tremendous offer for a doctorate degree. No tests, no books, no interviews? Wow! How can anyone pass that up?
The Chicago Tribune
has a good article on diploma mills and a first-hand documentary of how a reporter got a $699 “Life Experience” degree.
If you are new to distance learning, please don’t fall for these scams. The best way to avoid them is to delete the mail and come to legit sites like eLearners. The information is out there.