“You have skills, but all you need are academic qualifications and certificates, we are just a call or a text away,” reads an advertorial by bogus company Legitimate Zimbabwe Academic certificates.
Whether they are scammers or they have a way of issuing fake
academic qualifications, what still remains a fact is that it’s an offence to
sale or buy fake academic qualifications.
Lately, it has been discovered that many people at various
workplaces are basking, enjoying packages that come with their jobs while they
don’t have academic qualifications to sit in that particular office.
Even though some companies came up with academic standards
that their workers should obtain, many DO NOT HAVE THE QUALIFICATIONS.
These are the people that scammers are targeting.
In as much as it is painful to go to university for four
years at an old age, it can’t be tolerated for one to buy academic
qualifications.
“Get Legitimate academic certificates registered with any
university system. Pass SAQA or any Verification,” reads the advert which is
circulating on social media.
According to the advert, it seems the Midlands State
University (MSU) and the National University of Science and Technology (Nust)
are the targeted institutions that have documents that can be forged.
The counterfeit company, even gives guarantee that the
certificates will be “registered in the system” meaning they have people who
complete their shenanigans from the inside.
The phone number for inquiry on the advert is registered
under the name Nigel Tanyaradzwa (maybe it’s a pseudonym) who upon receiving a
call from this reporter said he doesn’t know anything about such a company.
“I have been receiving a lot of phone calls and WhatsApp
messages on my number with people asking me if it’s possible that I fabricate
academic documents for them.
“There are people who are tempering with my phone number
because I don’t offer such services. The police are already investigating this
case because I am being framed,” said Tanyaradzwa in a telephone interview on
Tuesday.
Doctor Tariro Ndawana, who is a senior lecturer at MSU
under the faculty of Social Sciences on the department of Media, Communication,
Film and Theatre said institutions lose their credibility because of such
illegal business.
“In as much as this person is trying to make dirty money
out of it, the bigger picture is, it is going to affect the institutions’
reputations that these people can copy their certificates and transcripts for
sale in black market.
“The affected universities will lose their value, and it
will even affect students who were issued degrees in a legitimate manner
because their documents won’t be trusted anymore on the market,” said Ndawana.
Thabani Mpofu, the director of communication and marketing
at Nust did not respond to questions sent to him by the time of publication.
Faking academic documents is not a new phenomenon.
In 2015, the New York Times carried a story based on a
billion-dollar industry which consisted of over 3 000 “diploma mills.”
These were fake universities that copied and sold
certificates for all level of degrees, worldwide.
In October 2020, the chief operations officer of the
Zimbabwe Council of Higher Education (Zimche) Mrs Florence Chimbumu was fired
after she was exposed by an internal auditor that she had fake academic
documents.
Reactions of the matter on Facebook
We work hard to get these certificates. Musatijairire. This
will discredit our hard-earned credentials. – Petronella Chaparadza Mareya.
This is not a good idea. Its criminal! – Winston Mathias. Is
this item still available? – Shamiso Kaviza.
And what about us that worked for four good years for these
(degrees)? – Goboza Nobuhle. B Metro
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