An international fraud ring is producing fake Cambridge University degree certificates, potential employers were warned on Wednesday.
Jenny Reid, managing director of corporate security company GriffithsReid, said South African employers should check all degree certificates from candidates claiming to have Cambridge degrees.
The number of bogus degrees from reputable foreign universities was increasing among the forgeries detected. About 25% of all degrees checked by her company proved to be falsified in one way or another, Reid said.
”Our figures show that the incidence of faked degrees is rising, and where previously a large number of these degrees came from Africa, we have found that an increasing number are supposedly coming from foreign institutions which would otherwise be unimpeachable,” said Reid, whose company also specialises in
qualification verification.
”The advent of computer scanning and imaging technology has made it possible for fraudsters to create almost perfect looking degrees.”
The most recent case GriffithsReid had to deal with was a candidate who had a University of Cambridge ”Bachelor of Accountancy” degree, which at first sight appeared genuine.
”Only when we checked back with Cambridge itself was it confirmed that the degree was fake, but that no such course even existed at that university,” Reid said.
She said even more disturbing was the fact that the degree had been certified at a South African police station, as a genuine copy of an original.
”This means that employers must demand original documents, and not accept certified copies, which can be just as bad as fakes,” she added.
”Even getting the original does not mean that the degree is genuine,” she said.
”The level of fraud means that companies have no choice but to undertake comprehensive qualification and screening procedures to protect themselves and their clientele.” – Sapa