Phony Degrees a Hot Net Scam by Kendra Mayfield Some college degrees aren't worth the parchment they're printed on. For a small fee an official Harrington University diploma -- purportedly accepted anywhere in the world -- can be delivered within 10 business days. No coursework, grades, or academic experience required. But Harrington University doesn't have a website, a campus, or even accreditation. "It's just between us how you got your diploma," said a representative from Harrington, a self-described diploma mill that -- like other unaccredited schools -- uses Internet and email marketing to lure prospective students. Wired News contacted Harrington University through an anonymous email ad. A representative who returned the call said that for a "small fee" of $1,400 (and an additional $500 discount for signing up that day), applicants can obtain a Bachelor's, Master's, or PhDs based on "life experience." "You never have to complete courses because we give credit for work and life experiences," the Harrington registrar said. With a custom-made PhD based on work experience, "You can legally call yourself Doctor," the representative said. "The Internet has spawned a new generation of cyber-degree mills," said Michael Lambert, executive director of the Distance Education and Training Council. "[Diploma mills] are growing, especially on the Internet, at astonishing rates," agrees John Bear, founder of Degree.net. Bear has witnessed the dark side of the distance-education boom up close. A former consultant, informant, and expert witness for the FBI's task force operation DipScam in the 1980s, he helped shut down a number of diploma mills over a 12-year period. Bear estimates that diploma mills rake in an average $200 million a year, with single schools earning between $10 and $20 million annually. And that number, he says, is conservative. He estimates that more than 300 unaccredited university sites exist, with one to two new sites cropping up each week. Just because a university is accredited does not mean that it is legitimate. Additionally, not all unaccredited universities are fraudulent. In the United States, an accrediting agency must be recognized by either the Department of Education or the Council on Higher Education Accreditation. The anonymity of the Internet makes it virtually impossible to find con artists who operate fake virtual universities from remote locations, such as the Grand Caymans or Costa Rica. "The biggest problem is the ease with which a huckster with a few hundred dollars in his pocket can make a convincing appearance on the Internet," said Rodney Merrill, founder of DegreeFinders.com. "You can easily steal the source code and graphics of a real online university and change a few things and ... boom -- you have a virtually virtual university. The Internet is ripe for con men to strike their marks by the thousands." Harrington University is headquartered in London, but students must wire payments overseas through Western Union. The service provides employers with transcripts and recommendation letters, all without any grades or coursework. For an additional fee, applicants may change any dates or majors within a year of purchase. Another school, Capitol University, uses the degree-mill.com domain to offer applicants a "valid degree entirely from job experience ... within 14 days." Wired News was unable to contact Capitol University through the phone number listed on the website. Some illegitimate sites use Tongan ISPs to establish anonymity. Others use the .edu domain suffix, which many people associate with legitimate educational institutions. The Internet's ability to deliver targeted ads to consumers has also allowed illegitimate sites to thrive. "The real villains are the media who take the ads," Bear said. "The only reason these sites prosper is because people want them." Some say that although people who sign up for diploma mills may be defrauded, the real victims are unknowing employers and the public. "The majority of people know what they're doing," Bear said. A bogus degree "is like putting a time bomb in your resumé," he added. "One never knows when it might go off with dire effects." Diploma mills may also victimize the people who put their trust in physicians, psychologists, lawyers, and others with fake credentials. Gregory Caplinger was indicted for wire fraud after claiming to be an accomplished medical doctor with two fake medical degrees and over 20 years of botched treatments. Caplinger posed as an M.D. in North Carolina and Florida, where he was arrested and charged with practicing medicine without a license. "There are people out there with fake degrees doing terrible things," Bear said. "The human damage can be considerable." Fake degrees have also been found among military and government officials, Bear said. One virtual university even offers a mail-order degree in nuclear engineering safety. "Yet most people don't take [diploma mills] seriously," Bear said. Educators and law enforcement officials are reluctant to prosecute and slow to keep up with the growing rate of online diploma mills. Additionally, accreditation laws vary across different states, and some states have lenient rules with loopholes that allow diploma mills to operate. Bear estimates that there are more than 50 unaccredited universities in Hawaii, where accreditation rules were virtually nonexistent until recently. "The laws are so vague that the most outrageous diploma mills can stay in business as long as they continue the pretense of being legitimate," Degree Finders.com's Merrill said. Additionally, individuals who have been defrauded have little recourse. Perpetrators who face lawsuits may disappear, change their name, or file for bankruptcy. The state of Louisiana shut down Columbia State University for defrauding students. The correspondence school's founder has since fled the country and allegedly remains a fugitive. "Anyone who sues a diploma mill will most likely be sued themselves," Merrill said. "The law favors diploma mill operators, not the people who want to shut them down." Diploma mills also threaten legitimate distance-learning institutions, whose reputations and enrollments may suffer as they lose students to bogus schools. "An enlightened public is our best hope," agreed Bear. "I really think that public awareness can help." "I want people to become a little more skeptical," Bear said. He tells people that the next time they go to the doctor's office, check the degree on the wall. "It doesn't hurt to ask."