http://www.insideedition.com/investi...plomaMills.htm

Original Air date: Friday, May 7, 2004

INVESTIGATION FINDS DIPLOMA MILLS CHURNING OUT THOUSANDS OF PHONY DEGREES TO GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, NURSES, MILITARY OFFICIALS – EVEN A UNIVERSITY ETHICS LECTURER



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Inside Edition Senior Investigative Correspondent, Matt Meagher.
An Inside Edition investigation has found that tens of thousands of people across the world are paying thousands of dollars each for real looking university degrees, transcripts and letters of recommendation that they haven't earned.

Inside Edition reported on public officials, nurses, police officers, military personnel – even an ethics lecturer at the University of California at Irvine -- using degrees they didn't earn from prestigious sounding “universities” that don't exist.


Allen Ezell is a former FBI agent and leading authority on phony diplomas,
Allen Ezell a former FBI agent and leading authority on phony diplomas, tells Inside Edition: ”You pick a name that has the right ring to it and the right sound, couple that with a section of London, add a little British accent to it and it works.”

Ezell says the Internet has turned diploma mills into a billion dollar business. “As long as we place a value in a piece of paper, someone is going to sell the paper.”

Inside Edition Senior Investigative Correspondent, Matt Meagher, responded to an email and called a phone number for the “University of Devon,” near London. In the report, Meagher described the man who answered the phone as sounding just like a used car salesman. He told Meagher if he paid for a Masters Degree and a post-dated Ph.D., he could get the Ph.D. at half price.

Meagher paid $1,400 for an MBA and a PhD in computer science and even got to pick his grades and honors. Twenty days later, the diplomas arrived via Federal Express, and the package even included letters of recommendation from a “Dr. George A Billings” on the "university’s" letterhead.


Meagher's diploma from the "University of Devon"
On its Web site, the “University of Devon” looks impressive, but when Inside Edition traveled to its stated address outside of London, England, a small department store was located there.

Although the documents came with a return address of Devon, England, computer tracking through FedEx showed they had actually been shipped from Jerusalem.

Inside Edition tracked the location to a modest five-story office building, and an office bearing the name of the firm that accepted the internet payment. When an American came out of the office, he was shocked to find Inside Edition’s cameras.

He refused to answer any questions, but told Meagher that a representative of the company would later contact Inside Edition. Later, the company representative did call saying it provides a service for the average hardworking American who doesn't have the time or money to get an advanced degree.

But, the former FBI agent, Ezell, says besides cheating the system, these degrees do a disservice to anyone who has worked hard to earn one the honest way.

“If I had a doctorate that I had busted myself to earn, (wrote a) dissertation, went before the committee, did it all, I would be incensed that somebody was out selling doctorate degrees.”

The report notes that even some people in the highest levels of government have also taken shortcuts to a degree.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Jack Corrie to a top position at the Department of Motor Vehicles, but last month, after it was learned that his bachelors and masters degrees were phony, he resigned, citing medical reasons.

And, in Washington D.C. in March, Laura Callahan, a deputy director of the Department of Homeland Security, resigned after it was discovered that she had a bachelors degree, a masters degree, and a Ph.D. that were bogus.


Dr. John Stupar's diploma from the "University of Devonshire".
Inside Edition also found that Dr. John Stupar, a full time lecturer at the prestigious University of California at Irvine, specializing in ethics, shouldn't be called "doctor" at all. His Ph.D. is from the “University of Devonshire,” supposedly near London. Inside Edition found there is no such school -- it's just a diploma mill that pumps out bogus degrees.

Stupar wouldn't talk to Inside Edition on camera, but said he believed he earned a legitimate Ph.D. through an internet correspondence school and he stressed that he does have three other degrees from reputable schools. Officials at UC Irvine told Inside Edition Stupar is a good teacher who was hired based on his skills and not on his Ph.D.



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__________________
Moderator - State Licensing Forum

Still skeptical after all these years.
This is it. There are no hidden meanings.WYSIWYG

http://www.internetmedicalschool.homestead.com

http://www.chiropractormds.homestead.com/index.html

I'm suprised that they didn't contact Az for his expert advice on medical education and the use of the internet to teach medicine.

Well, actually they did speak to me..they were referred to me by the National Council Against Health Fraud.

__________________
Moderator - State Licensing Forum

Still skeptical after all these years.
This is it. There are no hidden meanings.WYSIWYG

http://www.internetmedicalschool.homestead.com

http://www.chiropractormds.homestead.com/index.html

I'm not sure what this has to do with offshore med school, except in a very indirect way, or more directly about places like IUHS that should be avoided because they offer shady internet schooling.

__________________
Saba Forum Moderator
Saba University School of Medicine, MSIV
Interests: Pediatrics, Psychiatry

It shows that govt. agencies are looking at the credentials of people. Lots of folks,including physicians, pick up these type of credentials and if they list them as part of their identity, could actually get themselves in trouble with their medical licenses. It is happening in various states right now with chiropractors/dentists/,etc. who are listing MD degrees from diploma mill med schools,such as you mention.

__________________
Moderator - State Licensing Forum

Still skeptical after all these years.
This is it. There are no hidden meanings.WYSIWYG

http://www.internetmedicalschool.homestead.com

http://www.chiropractormds.homestead.com/index.html

O really? What evidence do they use to prove their point? Is there a test that they have used to prove that distant learning is fraud? I like to see the evidence that they are using to discredit accredited schools using the internet as a portion of their education.

Dipolma Mills in a sense of the term used in this article points to schools where people pay for a degree which they never attended nor did any kind of course work for that degree. How does this relate to Medical schools that use the internet to teach basic science? How does it discredit any school that uses distance learning where students do actual work and have actual exams for what they study?

Instead, Az, you seek out articles which point to fraud used by individuals with a computer and printer and charge would be students who never actually do any kind of work. These would be schools don't even have a campus. That's a dipolma mill and the government should and is moving to eliminate these kinds of schools. That you are correct on. It's doesn't, however, mean that they are moving to do away with all forms of using the internet to teach medicine in accredited medical schools.

Some state medical boards maybe against distant learning now, but they don't have a legit reason for it and I don't see it lasting for long. My reasoning for this is as such; an individual attends an accredited medical school WHO/IMED listed, does clinicals, does a residency, passes the USMLE, has ECFMG certification, and is board certified. Yet, the medical board says this person is incompetent to practice medicine because he/she has done basic science online? On what grounds is he/she not competent enough to practice medicine? How can one pass the USMLE and residency let alone become board certified as an incompetent physician? All it takes is a good lawyer to argue this point in court.

You may even say that this hasn't happened yet. However, it is just a matter of time before it does. In the meantime, I'll just go where I can get licensed. If that means going outside of the US, then I guess that's what I'll have to do. Not every country is against medical schools that use the internet as a portion of their program.

One should never go to a school that you need an attorney to help you get licensed from. Too risky. You need to be conservative when you are dealing with the amount of money you guys in med school do.

az skeptic

__________________
Moderator - State Licensing Forum

Still skeptical after all these years.
This is it. There are no hidden meanings.WYSIWYG

http://www.internetmedicalschool.homestead.com

http://www.chiropractormds.homestead.com/index.html

Az, and how do you think students from the caribbean medical schools got licensed in the early years? How do you think Ross is going to deal with Tx? How is Ross going to deal with the ODA?

This whole issue is mute to me because I know that if I can't be licensed in any state in the US, I can always go to another country to practice medicine such as Ghana Africa. I'm not limited to just the US and SLUSOM will provide me with the medical education to do this. To someone else who is insistance upon becoming a US licensed physician, your point is well taken.