Our China manufacturers & suppliers will provide a full-service to keep you up and running and meet your unique equipment requirements. Its qualifications are verified by University of the West of Scotland.With hundreds of thousands of products to choose from and an ever growing product range, your industrial equipment needs are sure to be met here. For example, from the site: ‘Bell College of Technology was a UK government-recognised body that gave awards between 19. Hedd's university authentication database provides a family tree for all degree-awarding bodies. For example, the University of North London merged with London Guildhall University (formerly the City of London Polytechnic) in 2002, to form London Metropolitan University. Mergers, name changes and rebranding have been the norm in the HE sector since the evolution of polytechnics into universities after 1992. The UK has a large and diverse higher education sector and, even within the UK, recruiters don't necessarily know their Queen Marys from their Queen Margarets. This is one of most common forms of misrepresentation that can easily be checked at Hedd. Any degree certificate that says 'Manchester University' is a fake. Order of wordsĪlthough in conversation people are likely to say, 'I went to Manchester University' or 'Manchester Uni', on paper it's The University of Manchester (the uppercase 'T' is the correct mode). The fundamental rule is, if it doesn't look like a university website address, it probably isn't. ac.uk domains which are carefully restricted. With the exception of private providers, such as BPP University, genuine UK degree-awarding bodies have. Joined by the National Fraud Investigation Bureau, Hedd works with domain name registrars such as GoDaddy or 123 Reg to shut down such sites. ac suffix is as close as it's possible to get to ac.uk. DomainĪscension Island is a popular domain choice for fake website providers. A PO Box or mailing house address, for example, is unlikely to be used by a real university. Some fake universities are in serviced offices, car parks and even on traffic roundabouts.īefore you even reach the StreetView stage, inconsistencies or insufficiencies in the address may give the game away. It certainly isn't the ivy-clad, mullion-windowed establishment the certificate promised. This is what the Canterbury University postcode returned: It's a feature that, if excluded, wouldn't go unnoticed.Īny doubts about the legitimacy of a dubious-looking university site can be allayed instantly by putting the postcode into StreetView. University locationįake university websites usually provide contact information, including a postal address. The only sure way of not being conned by a fake certificate, of course, is to check the authenticity of the certificate with the university that issued it. Always ask to see the original certificate, not a photocopy. If in doubt, check the insignia on the certificate with the university website.
Just as universities take increasingly sophisticated security measures to protect the integrity of their documents, fraudsters play catch-up and develop their own versions of crests, seals and holograms. Latin versions are occasionally issued as mementos, but are supplementary to the English version. Contemporary certificates are in English. It has not been practice for UK providers to issue degree certificates in Latin for at least 10 years. Expressions such as 'cum laude' are popular with US universities, whereas UK higher education institutions (HEIs) use 'with honours'. The use of Latin terminology on a degree certificate should also be a warning sign. No university puts this sort of cod-medieval lingo on their degree certificates - if you come across it, be suspicious. However, there are still many old school fake certificates in circulation, such as this piece of calligraphy from Canterbury University.Īs well as a florid appearance, the Canterbury University degree certificate is weighed down by pompous and ponderous prose. In the real university world, this sort of typographical representation became outdated at around the same time as single gender common rooms and rustication.īy and large, most contemporary fake certificates are modelled on their real-world counterparts. Certificate designįraudsters often believe that an ornate, Gothic typeface denotes prestige and tradition, and many of the fake certificates we have encountered use this technique. Under the Fraud Act 2006, it can result in a prison sentence of up to ten years. It is illegal to present fake degree certificates and transcripts as genuine documents.
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