Degree Mills: The Billion-dollar Industry That Has Sold Over A Million Fake Diplomas [Paperback]

Allen Ezell (Author), John Bear (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2005

Need a degree from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, or MIT! No problem. Send us a check! Do you know where your doctor, lawyer, or clergyman earned his or her degree? In 1986, a congressional committee report concluded that: more than 500,000 working Americans have a fraudulent degree. The media hardly noticed. The public yawned. The academic world buried its head in the sand. And things have gotten much, much worse since then. Allen Ezell, who specialized in degree fraud during his 35 years with the FBI, and John Bear, prolific author and expert witness on the subject in federal and state courts, reveal the shocking dimensions of this growing scam in this thoroughly researched expose. They show how degree mills operate, offer detailed warning signs that a school might be fake, tell how to check up on anyone's degree, and what to do when a fake degree is discovered. Also provided are information and links to useful lists of bad and fake schools. This is an invaluable reference book for personnel departments in business and academia, as well as for the average consumer.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Allen Ezell, employed by the FBI for 35 years, founded and headed the agency's "DipScam" diploma mill task force. He has testified in numerous state and federal courts, government agencies, and a Congressional subcommittee on the subject of diploma mills. John Bear is the highly regarded author of the Bears’ Guide series of books on higher education. He has been an education consultant or executive for Bell & Howell, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Xerox, and Pearson PLC. He regularly gives expert witness testimony in degree-mill trials. He is the author or coauthor of more than twenty books on consumer awareness, computers, and other topics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 318 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books; 1 edition (January 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159102238X
• ISBN-13: 978-1591022381
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,334,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book with great info., March 8, 2009

By 

Jeffrey K. Friesen "Rational thought" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Degree Mills: The Billion-dollar Industry That Has Sold Over A Million Fake Diplomas (Paperback)

I loved this book. I was looking for information about why a medical licensing bill I supported was being hammered by some people who claimed to be doctors.

What I found was that they were all graduates of diploma mills who had bought the degree and the BS hook, line and sinker. They honestly thought that a correspondence course made them a doctor. Insane. And kind of sad.

This book had great information to find out if someone has a bogus degree, how "accrediting agencies" are set up by the same diploma mills that they claim to accredit, and what can be done about it. It was written by the FBI guys who spent their careers going after these scam artists. There are several chapters of information that is very useful as well as some jolly good stories.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic and indepth look at a new Social Phenomenon, April 26, 2011

By 

ShaunSmith - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Degree Mills: The Billion-dollar Industry That Has Sold Over A Million Fake Diplomas (Kindle Edition)

Ok ok ok ~ a major point of this book is how degree mills are NOT a new social phenomenon, but their methods are constantly changing, evolving, and targeting both the naive, the deceptive, and the criminal. This book was fantastically written, well researched, with interesting apendicies to boot! here are a few of my favorite points of this book:

1. An indepth look as the the motive many degree mill 'customers' have in seeking these degrees. The authors discuss motivations to have a degree (even in a field where one is not required), advantaged in business settings, and even those folks who may not be fully aware of what they are getting themselves into when they first 'enroll.' In 2001, Laura Callahan, a top-dog in the department of homeland security, was summarily dismissed when her degree was in fact exposed as an unaccredited credential from a degree mill. In the appendix, the authors included, word for word, an essay Laura wrote about her entire experience, motivations, et cetera in purchasing a degree. VERY eye opening.

2. Very detailed descriptions of HOW diploma mills operate, get around state and federal laws, and even secure customers.

3. Discussion into the definition of degree mills, and how to navigate that grey area between a reasonable online university that may have new or innovate teaching methods in which accrediting agencies are still trying to grasp, diploma mills, and everything inbetween. See, most "Diploma mills" lay somewhere in the middle ~ between reasonable institution and outright scam ~ and this books gives tools to navigate those waters and make rational decisions.

4.Explaining how accrediting workd ~ which frankly is a mystery to almost all students at any major 'brick and mortar' institution. What is accreditation, how is it defined, who decides it, and how do you decide what is acceptable?

Fantastic book ~ well written, and VERY thought provoking.

4.0 out of 5 stars Valuable Information, October 4, 2011

By 

Thomas N. Crocker "Norm Crocker" (Spring Hill, TN, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Degree Mills: The Billion-dollar Industry That Has Sold Over A Million Fake Diplomas (Paperback)

I've followed the work of John Bear for years and this book with Alan Ezell is up to his usual level. At one point in my life I was hiring college teachers and the Bear books were a real help in analyzing applicants. It is nice to have a book like this available when you hear about a new college or program.