Spam: Fake Degrees

I haven't seen one of these in a while, so I may as well report it. The item in question is spam advertising fake academic qualifications. Only they don't call them "fake", of course -- they call them "non-accredited". I've often been tempted to buy one and pay with a cheque or credit card from a "non-accredited" financial institution, but it's not worth the bother. If you really want an award from a "non-accredited" institution, invent your own institution and get your local printery to run off some nice-looking certificates. Be creative.

Printing your own certificates has some very important advantages over dealing with spammers. For one, giving money to spammers encourages spam. For another, their online application form for requesting an "evaluation" demands that you reveal a whole bunch of personal information, and they don't even have a privacy policy listed on the page! Even if they did, it would probably run along the lines of "we will use your personal information in whatever way seems profitable to us".

The spam was received from 82.48.43.159 (host159-43.pool8248.interbusiness.it.) on Mon, 09 May 2005 03:45:42 +0000. The spammer's web page (www.okok.net) is at 66.111.4.150 (mail.messagingengine.com.), which looks like a ripe little hive of spam and villainy. Not only are they hosting the fake degrees thing, but the top-level page is a mortgage refinancing thing. Anyone received spam on that subject lately? No, don't bother raising your hand...

Hello,
My name is Professor Muriel Mccoy
Here is a short message to tell you about an exciting new academic qualification program which is open to students worldwide.
Your hard work and experience is equal to valuable college credits, and if you are experienced enough we will award you with the degree that suits you the most.
If you are a qualified professional in your field. You have all the training, the knowledge and the life experience, and the only thing now you are lacking is the degree itself we can help you to gain the correct academic qualification to meet your life experience and put you in a better position in your professional career.
The degrees we award are non-accredited from an academic point of view, you will however be able to use them in your chosen career field.
For more information go to the following website http://g.msn.com/0MNBUS00/1?http://www.0k0k.net/dip/, and you will be able to leave all of your details so that one of our qualified registrars can call you back with a response to your evaluation.
Regards,
Professor Muriel Mccoy

If you prefer not to receive such offers please go here:
http://g.msn.com/0MNBUS00/1?http://www.0k0k.net/dip/r.php