Education is the master key, so they say. At the same time, it’s a time-reliant activity. You can miss out on it forever if you don’t go when you’re supposed to.
People who didn’t attend high school but want the paper certificate can fake a diploma. It may work quite right, but there can be repercussions if you use it for a legal venture.
This article will educate you on all you need to know about faking a diploma. You’ll understand the legality, risk involved, and alternatives to doing it.
Can you Fake a Diploma?
Faking a diploma is very easy to do. All you need to do to get thousands of vendors who can do it for you is a search on your search engine. You can get a diploma similar to the authentic with some money.
Contrary to what you might expect, faking a diploma is perfectly legal, at least if you don’t use it to seek employment or try to further your degree. If you try to do any of these two, you can be caught or face the wrath of the law.
Your chance of getting caught when you fake a diploma depends on the skill set of the person, people, or agency that did it for you. You could get away with a thorough physical inspection if you parade an almost identical result to the original. However, it’s easier than you think to detect a fake diploma if your employer decides to deep a little deeper.
Most online fake diploma vendors would do anything to make you patronize them. They might mention that it’s time-saving or you can earn money if you use it to secure a job. However, most of these are marketing gimmicks; you shouldn’t fall into the trap.
Why Do People Fake Diplomas?
There are many reasons why people fake a diploma. While some do it as a bragging right or just for fun, others do it to gain employment, get admission, or for other serious reasons. Here are a few reasons people fake a diploma.
1. To Replace A Lost One
A diploma is just a piece of paper with information on it. It can get lost to fire or in any other way. When it does, some people get a fake one to replace it.
Instead of getting a fake diploma, you can contact the school you attended for a new one which they’ll do after verifying your records.
Sometimes, this process might take time, but it’s best to be patient rather than get a fake one. If you need to use it urgently, you can get some kind of affidavit from the school and court while they process giving you a new one.
2. To Get a Job or Admission
Many people fake a diploma because they want to use it to get a job or admission. The chance of getting any of them is slim. It doesn’t take long for professionals to fish out a fake degree upon close inspection.
If the makers are skillful, reputed firms or government parastatals may contact the school with your claim for verification. The same applies to the educational aspect. You can trust that an academic institution will have the most foolproof way to verify the diploma, which works more times than it doesn’t.
3. Love of a Particular School
As odd as it may sound, people fake diplomas because they like a particular school. They can have another one earned legitimately but decide to fake the one of a specific institution as a morale booster.
The motivation for this reason varies, but it can be that their favorite musicians attend the school, or they just love it.
4. Movies
People also fake diplomas to use as a prop in movies. Movie makers prefer to make everything as realistic as possible, even using a fake one that looks almost like the original. Faking a diploma, for this reason, is legal as long the motivation stays that way.
Disadvantages of Faking A Diploma
1. You Could Get Into Legal Trouble
The kind of trouble you may enter depends on the severity of the diploma you faked. If you only try to get a job with it, the company will reject your application outrightly if it discovers it. You can experience a worse punishment if you’ve already been working in the company with it.
Getting into severe legal trouble by faking a diploma is unlikely; unless you do it in a sensitive sector like health. You could be charged with a serious crime because you’re putting the lives of people at risk working with a fake health degree.
2. It Could Jeopardize Your Academic Career
Schools will reject your application if they discover you’re trying to gain admission with a fake diploma. However, you can face more severe punishment if you’re already a student.
It can mean immediate rustication and banning you from attending any other academic institution for a certain period, which can negatively impact your career.
3. You Could Fall Victim to Scammers
Faking a diploma can be expensive, and you might spend up to $250 getting one. You can easily get scammed even if you have the money and want to get on with it. These people can abscond after you’ve paid them the money, and good luck reporting to law enforcement that you’re scammed while trying to fake a diploma.
Also, these quack websites use risky payment methods, which can expose your account to fraud. If the last thing you’d want is to learn that there has been illegitimate access to your account because you tried to fake a diploma, why not stay off it entirely?
How Do Recruiters Verify Fake Diplomas?
There are many ways recruiters can verify a fake diploma, and one of the surest is by contacting the school that you claim to graduate. However, this method is only practical if they’re working with not many applicants.
Imagine verifying the diplomas of 50-100 candidates using this method; the time and economic investment might not be worth it.
Therefore, another, more practical option that they might use is getting a professional to inspect the degree themselves. This method is less efficient than the first, and you might get away with it even if you fake the diploma. However, they mostly do their job well and can detect whether or not you’re parading a fake degree.
Alternatives to Faking High School Diplomas
Rather than fake a diploma, there are other perfectly legal alternatives. This section will educate you on some of these alternatives.
1. Go Back to School
If you dream of having a diploma but didn’t graduate high school, your best legal bet is to go back to school. It doesn’t matter how old you are; there isn’t an age restriction on education.
This venture is challenging, but the end goal is rewarding and perfectly legal if you’re patient.
Many schools offer online diploma programs if attending a physical school isn’t okay for you. You’ll be able to get a valid diploma that you can flaunt anywhere while learning remotely. It’s imperative to be careful because fake online schools and scammers exist.
2. Aspire for other Non-Academic Career Path
There are many non-academic career paths that you can explore. You can decide to be an entrepreneur, construction, automotive maintenance, or florist, or even learn a skill from the cast majority available online.
You can learn virtual bookkeeping, copywriting, social media marketing, email marketing specialist, and many others. Most of these skills don’t require you to have a diploma, and some are high-paying jobs. The most essential thing is to research the one you love and go for it.
3. Be Contented!
A vast majority of people fake diplomas for bragging rights. However, it’s best to be content with your qualifications and certification because all schools are reputable. If you’re not, you’ll feel prouder going back to school than faking a diploma.
Conclusion
Faking a diploma is more common than you think, and people do it for many (different) reasons. They could do it for an undeserved advantage or other fun reasons. Whichever your reason, it’s best to avoid it altogether.
You could return to school to get back your degree or look for other non-academic but prestigious career paths. They’re far better than the risk you’re exposing yourself to by faking the diploma.
Many people get away with it quite alright, but the chances of you doing so are slimmer if you want to use it to pursue a legitimate cause.
Sam is a brilliant young Nigerian biochemistry student and an aspiring entrepreneur. Despite facing many challenges, he has never lost his passion for learning and drive to make a difference in the world. Read more about him here.