Botswana Gazette - The Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology

There’s a story in the Botswana Gazette this week headlined “BAC’s ‘Dr Fake’ wants to silence The Botswana Gazette” that includes references to comments I’ve made in the past regarding the so-called “Northern Ireland institute of Business and Technology British”.

I can obviously make no comments about the person who is threatening action against the Gazette other than he claims to have obtained a qualification from that establishment. I don’t know him or anything about him.

However, I do know this. The “Northern Ireland institute of Business and Technology British” is a ridiculous, insane, bogus educational establishment.

Accreditation

The most important aspect of the NIIBT, in fact the most important aspect of any educational establishment, is their accreditation. NIIBT claim to be accredited by an organisation called the “International Accreditation and Recognition Council” (IARC) but this is not a recognized accreditation body.

They also claim to be a “member” of Open Education Europa, but this isn’t a recognized accreditation body either.

Finally they claim to be an “Associate Member” of the Asian Association of Open Universities but again that’s not an accreditation body.

So no actual accreditation.

Place of business

Then there's the title of the organisation. They’re not British. Not even slightly. Despite implying on their web site that they are a registered UK company (Company number: 1452174), I can find no trace of such a company registered in the UK.

They offer an address, 20 Adelaide St, Belfast, Northern Ireland but that’s nothing more than a virtual office address which you can rent. They’re not actually based there. In fact there are records of many other companies being based at that address.

So they’re not British at all.

In a footer on their web site they say that they are "registered with the Government of British Virgin Islands". That may or not be true because there's no way to search online for BVI companies. But it's further evidence that they're not really "British" and they have nothing whatsoever to do with Northern Ireland.

Their faculty

Any reputable educational establishment will proudly list their staff and their accomplishments. Not NIIBT.

Their "President cum Chairman of Board of Examiners", "Dr. R. Hempfing (Lawyer)., BA(Law)., MBA., PhD., Mgt.FNIIBT British" doesn't appear to exist. He has a photo but other than that I can find no trace of him or his accomplishments.

The same applies to their "Director General", "Prof. Dr. E.C. Now". Again no actual evidence that he exists.

It's the same with their "Advisory Council". They don't seem to exist either.

So what about all their academic staff, the professors, lecturers and researchers?

They don't seem to have any. If they exist, they're secret.

Reputation

What reputation? They don't have one.

Why not?

Their conduct

They're completely bonkers.

In the past, when I've had the nerve to criticism their reactions have been "strange" to say the least.

They called me "Internet Terrorist Richard Harriman" and accused me of "an ill intention to tarnish the reputation of the institute". They then said they had been forced "to lodge an Interpol police report against you of your wrong doing" and best of all there was this unhinged series of comments:

"Action will be taken against internet terrorist of foul international law."

"FBI and Interpol are alerted on Internet Terrorists: Actions will be taken against internet terrorists soon who foul the international law."

"YOU HAVE REALLY GONE OVER BOARD RETRACT ALL YOUR FALSE CLAIMS OR FACE THE MUSIC."

"FBI is watching your uncorrectable behavior. You better watch out!!!"

"To avoid unforeseen serious consequence will come after you"

"Mr. Richard Lim, Senior Manager for International Affairs is alerted on your remark [...] He will use it as evidence to sue you for slander and defamation. You will have to pay for a high price of your silly actions."

"This is my advice to you. DO NOT LABEL US AS FAKE. LUNATIC, SCAM ETC. YOU HAVE REALLY GONE OVER BOARD RETRACT ALL YOUR FALSE CLAIMS OR FACE THE MUSIC."

Their final email to me included this threat:

"Our claim for damage on slandering and defaming on Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) and its agent is going to be USD6 millions. You are urged to treat this matter as serious and removing all slanderous and defamation articles on NIIBT, unlawfully using the NIIBT logo, unlawfully interference of the internal affairs of NIIBT and its agent in your blogs, etc from the internet and wikipedia instantly."

Of course no such legal action ever occurred because nothing I said was incorrect, malicious or not in the public interest. My $6 million is safe (mainly because I don't have it).

The conclusion

This is a bogus establishment that sells bogus qualifications.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Is this institution real?

Please confirm if the Institution below exists: Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British). I received one application, which the candidate has qualified from that Institution. It was my first time to see such certificate thats why I contacted consumer watchdog.

The so-called Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) never really existed other than being a web site that sold fake qualifications.

Despite it’s name this place had nothing to do with Northern Ireland and wasn’t British. They had no permanent presence anywhere in the UK and they weren’t a registered company there either. None of the "academic staff" they claimed to employ really existed and they claimed to have been accredited by an accreditation body that nobody recognized. In fact they operated from Malaysia, not the UK.

We first exposed this bogus establishment in 2009 and they weren’t happy at all when we told people the truth about them. Over the next few years they threatened us with legal action and even said they’d reported me to the FBI and Interpol (ignoring that fact that neither of these bodies has any jurisdiction over them or me). Needless to say we ignored their silly threats.

Their last email to me in 2011 included this threat:

“Our claim for damage on slandering and defaming on Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) and its agent is going to be USD6 millions. You are urged to treat this matter as serious and removing all slanderous and defamation articles on NIIBT, unlawfully using the NIIBT logo, unlawfully interference of the internal affairs of NIIBT and its agent in your blogs, etc from the internet and wikipedia instantly.”

Guess what happened? Nothing. They couldn’t take action against us because all we’d done was reveal to the internet the truth: that they were a bogus establishment selling bogus qualifications.

The good news is that they appear not to exist any longer. Their web site has disappeared and I guess people aren’t buying their fake qualifications any more.

I salute you for taking the time to check your candidate’s qualifications and for being skeptical about their claims. More employers should check these things to avoid being defrauded by people claiming to have qualifications that aren’t real.

Finally I need to warn anyone who is considering buying a qualification from any establishment like this one. If you buy a degree from a fake establishment you are as criminal as they are. If you get a job or a promotion from an employer as a result of this “qualification” you can be charged with “obtaining by false pretence” and if found guilty you could end up in prison for seven years. Is it worth the risk?

Can I get a replacement?

Help me out here. I bought a smartphone and it gave me technical problem. I then took it back last week Tuesday since it was still under warranty so every time I went there to get it they are telling me the technician is working on it. Am I suppose to get a repaired phone or a new phone coz they cant fix it again?

Let’s begin with Section 13 (1) (a) of the Consumer protection Regulations. This says that a consumer is entitled to buy commodities or services that are “of merchantable quality”. The regulations says that this means products that are “fit for the purposes for which commodities of that kind are usually purchased, as it is reasonable to expect in light of the relevant circumstances”. In other words if you buy a cellphone it must be able to make phone calls, pick up texts and work in a fashion that most people would find acceptable. Put very simply, it should work.

Normally, when there’s a problem with something you’ve purchased, you're entitled to one of the three 'R's: a refund, replacement or a repair but in most circumstances it's up to the store to decide which of these they offer you. A store is entitled to try to repair an item, particularly if the problem is fairly minor. However if a store can't repair something within a reasonable time then I think it’s fair to demand a replacement or a refund.

I’ll be happy to contact the store on your behalf to see if they can’t do the decent thing.

Play the NIIBT game

Here's a fun game for you to play.

See if you can find any evidence that any of the people mentioned on the web site of the so-called Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) actually exist. Go on, it's a challenge. I've failed every time so far.

A reminder. Despite their name, they're not in Northern Ireland and they aren't British.

Check out also the number of fake universities they claim their "Visiting Faculty" seem to have attended.

Pacific West University is a now defunct diploma mill.

Let me know if you find just a single real, traceable human being. Being so far away (Malaysia in fact) they probably don't know that I mentioned on TV this week as a good example of a fake educational establishment.

Who can they be referring to?

Who can the Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) be referring to with this notice?

They can't mean me, can they?

All I did was state that they're not British, they aren't registered as a company in the UK and they aren't really in Northern Ireland, other than at an accommodation address ("20 Adelaide St., Belfast BT2 8GD, Northern Ireland, UK" which you can see on the right).

I also said that they aren't accredited by a recognized accreditation body and their academic staff don't seem to exist.

That's when they SAID they were reporting me to Interpol and the FBI and suing me for US$ 6 million. But they didn't.

I wonder why?

A right to reply

I’ve been known to be critical of certain people and organisations but I also believe in fair play and offering people a second chance. At Consumer Watchdog we’ve always guaranteed the people and companies we criticise a guaranteed right of reply. So long as they’re polite then they can respond. They can even criticise us if they want, even when they’re not entirely rational.

I thought that as a demonstration of this and as a special gesture of Christmas generosity I’d publish an email we received a few days ago. This was from the so-called “Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British)”. Despite it’s name this place has nothing to do with Northern Ireland and isn’t British. They have no permanent presence anywhere in the UK and they’re not a registered company there. What’s more none of their "academic staff" can be traced and they claim accreditation from a non-recognised accreditation body. You should also ask yourself why they have a web site that ends in "org.uk", suggesting that they're in the UK, when in fact their web site was registered as a "Non-UK Corporation" in February 2008 to an address in Malaysia. [Correction, this has now been changed, I believe on 22nd December to "Other UK Entity".]

Their email is an extreme example of the sort of thing we sometimes have to deal with. You can see the long running saga on the Consumer Watchdog blog but I thought I’d let you decide whether they’re being reasonable. I haven’t edited it other than to remove some boring details like addresses and some strange spacing. The spelling is exactly as I received it. See what you think.

"To Richard Harriman, Consumer Watchdog, the Mmegi

On l8/7/2011 you arrogantly posted three links in your blog in the internet and many links in Wikepedia and nastily asked us to Google search for the articles which defaming the Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) as fake, as Malaysia institute, not a registered company, fake accreditation, scam, Richard Lim as none existing and fake, etc.

You even sarcastically asked “How’s business? This is clearly shown that you possessed an ill intention to tarnish the reputation of the institute and intentionally to destroy the business of its agent Victoria Business Centre.

Tell us honestly how you how much you have been paid for the blogger job?

On 20/11/2011, you wrote again and agitated us to follow through legal action against you. You remarked that taking legal action against you was a silly threat.

You even dare to challenge us to lodge Internpol/FBI police report on you. Then you remark “So you were joking then?” Do you think that the Interpol and the FBI are simply set up for joking only? Come on; do not show under estimate and disrespects the ability of the Interpol and the FBI. Show your respect on them, ok!

We have been very patient with you when you began to slandering and defaming NIIBT and its agent Victoria Business Centre in the internet since 2009. Your slanderous, defamation and unlawful interfere of the internal affairs of both establishments have affected our educational service greatly.

On behalf of Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) and its agent, Richard Lim force to lodge an Interpol police report against you of your wrong doing. You are strongly urged to remove all the slanderous and defamation articles on Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) and NIIBT both from your blogs as found in the internet, Wikipedia, facebook, twitter and others immediately to avoid being sued.

A copy of genuine Interpol police report against you by Richard Lim, Senior Manager of International Affairs and Communication is attached for your prompt retract all the articles as posted in your blogs in the internet, wikipedia and others.

Should you fail to do so, you and your papers are really going to face the Interpol/the FBI plus suing you for tarnishing the reputation of the institute and its agent.

Can you provide us your physical address?

Our claim for damage on slandering and defaming on Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) and its agent is going to be USD6 millions. You are urged to treat this matter as serious and removing all slanderous and defamation articles on NIIBT, unlawfully using the NIIBT logo, unlawfully interference of the internal affairs of NIIBT and its agent in your blogs, etc from the internet and wikipedia instantly."

Is that entirely rational? Forgive me for thinking that either the author is very excitable or he hadn’t taken his medication that morning.

Here’s a few facts.

Interpol. Interpol is not a police force. It is described as "an organization facilitating international police cooperation". You cannot complain or lay a charge with Interpol. Their job is simply to enable different national police forces to cooperate with each other.

The FBI. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is a US Federal law enforcement agency whose jurisdiction is limited to issues affecting the USA. It has no jurisdiction or interest in fake non-accredited educational establishments based in Malaysia who claim to be based in the UK when they are, in fact, not.

Defamation. Section 195 of the Penal Code of Botswana say that comment cannot be considered defamation if "the matter is true and it was for the public benefit that it should be published". The laws of Malaysia protect "justification" and "fair comment" in their Defamation Act of 1957. Nothing I've said has been untrue or an unfair comment. OK, perhaps the time I called them lunatics was going a bit far but they did say some bizarre things such as "Action will be taken against internet terrorist of foul international law" which I think meant me.

So, Merry Christmas to all the smart and attractive Mmegi readers and “Keep taking the pills” to my Malaysian friends!

Another threat from NIIBT

Another email from the "Northern Ireland Institute of Business & Technology", NIIBT. This time they want US$ 6 million from me. I don't think they deserve it.

"To:

Richard Harriman, Consumer Watchdog, the Mmegi and the Voice,
P Box 403026, Gaborone, Botswana Tel: (267) 3904582 Fax: (267) 39117
Email: wlmailhtml:watchdog@bes.bw Web site: www.bes.bw.

Richard Harriman,

On l8/7/2011 you arrogantly posted three links in your blog in the internet and many links in Wikepedia and nastily asked us to Google search for the articles which defaming the Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) as fake, as Malaysia institute, not a registered company, fake accreditation, scam, Richard Lim as none existing and fake, etc.

You even sarcastically asked “How’s business?

This is clearly shown that you possessed an ill intention to tarnish the reputation of the institute and intentionally to destroy the business of its agent Victoria Business Centre.

Tell us honestly how you how much you have been paid for the blogger job?

On 20/11/2011, you wrote again and agitated us to follow through legal action against you. You remarked that taking legal action against you was a silly threat.

You even dare to challenge us to lodge Internpol/FBI police report on you. Then you remark “So you were joking then?”

Do you think that the Interpol and the FBI are simply set up for joking only? Come on; do not show under estimate and disrespects the ability of the Interpol and the FBI. Show your respect on them, ok!

We have been very patient with you when you began to slandering and defaming NIIBT and its agent Victoria Business Centre in the internet since 2009. Your slanderous, defamation and unlawful interfere of the internal affairs of both establishments have affected our educational service greatly.

On behalf of Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) and its agent, Richard Lim force to lodge an Interpol police report against you of your wrong doing.

You are strongly urged to remove all the slanderous and defamation articles on Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) and NIIBT both from your blogs as found in the internet, Wikipedia, facebook, twitter and others immediately to avoid being sued.

A copy of genuine Interpol police report against you by Richard Lim, Senior Manager of International Affairs and Communication is attached for your prompt retract all the articles as posted in your blogs in the internet, wikipedia and others.

Should you fail to do so, you and your papers are really going to face the Interpol/the FBI plus suing you Richard Harriman, Consumer Watchdog, the Mmegi and the Voice, P Box 403026, Gaborone, Botswana Tel: (267) 3904582 Fax: (267) 39117 Email: wlmailhtml:watchdog@bes.bw Web site: www.bes.bw. for tarnishing the reputation of the institute and its agent.

Can you provide us your physical address?

Our claim for damage on slandering and defaming on Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) and its agent is going to be USD6 millions. You are urged to treat this matter as serious and removing all slanderous and defamation articles on NIIBT, unlawfully using the NIIBT logo, unlawfully interference of the internal affairs of NIIBT and its agent in your blogs, etc from the internet and wikipedia instantly."

Some more facts:

Interpol. Interpol is not a police force. It is described as "an organization facilitating international police cooperation". You cannot complain or lay a charge with Interpol. Their job is simply to enable different national police forces to cooperate with each other.

The FBI. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is a US Federal law enforcement agency whose jurisdiction is limited to issues affecting the USA. It has no jurisdiction or interest in fake non-accredited educational establishments based in Malaysia who claim to be based in the UK when they are, in fact, not.

The NIIBT. They still have explained why they call themselves "British" when they're not, why they link themselves to "Northern Ireland" when they have no permanent presence there, why none of their "academic staff" can be traced and why they claim accreditation from a non-recognised accreditation body. Why do they have a web site that ends in "org.uk", suggesting that they're in the UK when in fact this site was registered as a "Non-UK Corporation" on 20th February 2008 to an address in Malaysia (P.O. Box 195, Johor Bahru, Malaysia, 80720)?

Defamation. Section 195 of the Penal Code of Botswana say that comment cannot be considered defamation if "the matter is true and it was for the public benefit that it should be published". All other legal systems in democracies have a similar protection for fair comment. Malaysia in particular protects "justification" and "fair comment" in their Defamation Act 1957. Nothing I've said has been untrue or an unfair comment. OK, perhaps calling them lunatics was going a bit far but have you read what some of the things they said? (Reminder: "Action will be taken against internet terrorist of foul international law" which meant me.)

The complaint above. I haven't mentioned them 3 times on the blog. In fact they've been mentioned 13 times. I only mentioned "Victoria Business Centre" once, I thought it was just their business address.

We get another lunatic email from NIIBT

I get an email from the fake Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (NIIBT) threatening me with "the proper procedures of the law" because of my comments in the past. It goes like this:

"Hello Mr Harriman

How are you ? It's been a while. Greetings from Malaysia.
The purpose of this letter is to inform you for the LAST TIME to remove your slanderous claim on me, my work and Northern Institute of Business & Technology before we proceed in using the proper procedures of the law on you and your paper.

Your claims have affected my work and business. We are a registered, recognised and a well establish licensed organization.

My advice to you is that you

1. Remove all writings claiming we are FAKE and my existence as well. I am well and healthy
2. Public apology in your blog FOR ALL YOUR ATTACKS WHICH IS FALSE

This will serve as a FINAL warning to you.

Have a good day

note: you have 24 hours to response

Regards

RICHARD LIM"

Let's get some facts straight.

"Northern Ireland". The NIIBT has nothing to do with Northern Ireland. The web site claims an address in Belfast, specifically 20 Adelaide Street, Belfast, BT2 8GD. However that's just a business centre where you can rent offices by the hour. You can even rent a "virtual office" where they answer the phone for you with your company name even though you've never been there. They have no real connection to Northern ireland.

"British". They're not registered as a company in the UK. I know, I checked with the UK registrar of companies, Companies House. You can check here for yourself.

Accreditation. They claim to be accredited by "The International Accreditation & Recognition Council" (IARC). This is not a recognised accreditation body.

Staff. There appears to be no trace of any of the academic staff they claim to employ.

Richard Lim. There's no trace of a Richard Lim associated with NIIBT. His credibility is also somewhat undermined by his use of a Gmail address ("richlim2u@gmail.com") to threaten me.

They're insane. Previous emails from them included things such as:

"Action will be taken against internet terrorist of foul international law."
"FBI and Interpol are alerted on Internet Terrorists: Actions will be taken against internet terrorists soon who foul the international law."
"YOU HAVE REALLY GONE OVER BOARD RETRACT ALL YOUR FALSE CLAIMS OR FACE THE MUSIC."
"FBI is watching your uncorrectable behavior. You better watch out!!!"
"To avoid unforeseen serious consequence will come after you"

And Mr Lim's request for removal of my comments and an apology?

What do you think?

The lunacy continues

I was following up on all the unanswered emails and found the last threat from the Lunatic Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British). They had promised that:

"Action will be taken against internet terrorist of foul international law."

So I emailed them asking whether that actually meant anything. I got this in reply:

"1. FBI and Interpol are alerted on Internet Terrorists:

Actions will be taken against internet terrorists soon who foul the international law.

2. Educational legal consultant is alerted on slander, defamation and unlawful interference:

Actions will be taken against you soon of foul the laws such as commercial law, international law, etc.

3. Mr. Richard Lim, Senior Manager for International Affairs is alerted on your remark as below. He will use it as evidence to sue you for slander and defamation. You will have to pay for a high price of your silly actions.

4. You are urged to remove all your remarks on NIIBT in your blog Consumer Watchdog immediately to avoid actions will be taken against you soon."

I can't wait!

The lunatics at NIIBT are still at it

I thought there was effective medication for mental illness these days?

The lunatic Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) don't like being called lunatics.

"Mr Richard Harriman

This is my advice to you. DO NOT LABEL US AS FAKE. LUNATIC, SCAM ETC.

YOU HAVE REALLY GONE OVER BOARD
RETRACT ALL YOUR FALSE CLAIMS OR FACE THE MUSIC.

(YOU HAVE NOT ANSWERED MY QUESTIONS)

NIIBT
SENIOR MANAGER
INT AFFAIRS"

I don't understand why I would be answering THEIR questions?  Here are mine, no answers forthcoming from them yet. They're all very simple. The answers should be easy.

1. Why do they call themselves "British" and use "Northern Ireland" in their name when they are not British and aren't in Northern Ireland?
2. Why can I find no trace of their academic or administrative staff anywhere on the Internet other than their web site?
3. Why do they claim accreditation from a fake accreditation body, the “International Accreditation and Recognition Council”?
4. They have previously threatened me with the FBI and Interpol. Do they realise what these bodies actually are?
5. Why, if they don't like being accused of acting like lunatics, do they behave like lunatics?

Here's something else simple. In response to their instruction to "RETRACT ALL YOUR FALSE CLAIMS".

I haven't made any. So I won't.

Degrees of abuse

I am surrounded by clever, well-educated people. Many of them are much more qualified that I am. I know several people with Masters Degrees and a couple of them with PhDs and I admire enormously the hard work and sacrifices they made to get them.

However I actually don’t believe that qualifications are the most important thing for most jobs. What matters more are skills a person possesses and their experience in using them. Of course there are professions where certain qualifications are important. I want my doctor, my lawyer and my accountant to be fully qualified. I don’t care that much if my bank manager has an MBA or not, so long as she manages her branch effectively and motivates her staff. That’s not a set of skills you can get from a college or a university.

But if people DO have qualifications I want them to be real. I don’t want people pretending to have genuine qualifications when really they bought them off the internet with their credit card.

That’s why I’m becoming a fake qualifications bore. And no, I’m not going to stop going on and on about how I think people with fake qualifications are low-down cheats. These people are stealing job opportunities from people who have REAL degrees, who worked hard to get them.

In the past I’ve mentioned a variety of the fake universities that I’ve come across like Belford University, The University of SouthCentral Los Angeles and the utterly lunatic Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology. These are all “virtual universities”. They don’t actually exist in the real world. None of them have a campus with lots of busy-looking academics thinking lofty thoughts and stressed looking students running from room to room for their next lecture or seminar.

All they have is a postal address, a phone number, a web site and an email address. We could all set up those in an hour.

What they DO have is an impressive sounding name. Let’s take an example. Doesn’t “Knightsbridge University” sound impressive? Anyone with a little knowledge of London will know that Knightsbridge is a very prestigious part of London full of embassies, enormously over-priced shops and the most expensive apartment ever sold (it sold for over P1 billion, yes I DID mean Billion). It’s also close to Kensington, an area full of universities and museums so “Knightsbridge University” sounds good, doesn’t it?

It would if it didn’t actually operate from a post box in Denmark.

It’s not real, not even slightly. This one doesn’t even seem to have a web site.

Over the years a number of people have been exposed as cheats for claiming to have a Knightsbridge University degree. In 2000 a senior government official in Mpumalanga was “forced to resign” after claiming to have a doctorate from them. There have been several subsequent controversies when other people working for charities and parastatals around the world have similarly been exposed as cheats and lost their jobs and reputations as a result.

Then there’s the rather amazing “Ashwood Unviersity”. This one is much more high-tech and has it’s own web site. One of the first things on the web site is this appealing claim:

“No Need to Take Admission Exams, No Need To Study, Receive a College Degree for What You Already Know!”

Better still is the link on their web site which says:

“Click here to place an order now and receive your degree in 15 days!”

For a mere $1,249 you can have a PhD and be a doctor in a range of disciplines including Nursing and Medicine. If you’re feeling flush you can splash out an extra $1,000 and they’ll even throw in your thesis for you.

Tempted?

No, you shouldn’t be because you’re not a cheat and a liar, are you?

There are plenty of other fake universities out there that offer the same fake qualifications, the Wikipedia page on non-accredited universities lists over 200 of the them. But are there seriously any people in Botswana claiming to have such a qualification? Who knows?

If there are and you’re one of them I have a suggestion for you. If you told your employer that you have a degree from Ashwood University, Knightsbridge University, Belford University or any of the other fake establishments then sooner or later you’re going to be found out and fired. What’s more your employer would be perfectly entitled to call the cops and have you dragged away. The reason? You committed a fraud. You took something (your salary) on false pretences. You’re a crook and like all crooks the best thing you can do now is to go straight. Either keep quiet and take your chances, confess and see if you can negotiate some leniency from your boss or just resign quietly.

Do you really want your boss to learn that you lied to him or her when you were hired? Can your skills and experience get you off a charge of fraud?

Do you really want a colleague who doesn’t like you, or who wants your job to expose you?

I doubt it so just do the honourable thing before you get found out.

A final email from The "Northern Ireland" scammers

I received various emails from the ludicrous "Northern Ireland Institute of Business & Technology (British)" asking that I publish their latest rant. They said:

"Internet Terrorist Richard Harriman,
Our Senior Manager for International Affairs had answered all your questions clearly and precisely.  He would like you to publish it, to allow the public to judge who would look more ridiculous eventually."

OK, here goes. You can judge for yourself which of us is most ridiculous.

Their original statements are in black. My subsequent comments are in red. Their latest responses are in blue.

"To Mr Richard Harriman Much of your comments on NIIBT is ridiculous and utter nonsense [Evidence?] (our evidence? In what form? How should I present it?) HERE?

Please do your homework before posting your comments. [I did.] (ok.evidence ?_)

1. We are registered on British Virgin Islands. [So why do you call yourself "British" and use "Northern Ireland" in your name?] (STUDY YOUR GEOGRAPHY BEFORE ASKING THIS QUESTION?)

2. We have been operating legally for many years (probably long before you were born) [I'm 46 years old.] (hello, Mr Harriman)

3.Our students have been successful in business and in the work force [Give me the names of FIVE independently traceable students.] (WHO ARE YOU? STUDENT RECORDS ARE PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL! WHY SHOULD WE PROVIDE PERSONAL DETAILS EVEN WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT?)

4. our courses are world class (you should sign up and learn ) [You are not accredited by a recognised accreditation body. How can your courses possibly be " world class"?]" Our materials are used world wide with students from UK, US including Asia Isn’t that some sort of world class?unless you want to go into details over the definition. Of course we are no match for Harvard. Yale,Princeton , Cambridge or Oxford and Stanford (which university are you from?)

Here some simple questions that I think deserve simple answers:

1. Why do you call yourselves the "Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British)" when you have nothing to do with Northern Ireland and you're not British? (still swinging at this juncture?) Anyway for your information. We are registered !

2. Why can I find no trace at all of any of the academic staff you claim to employ? Which staff are you looking for? Most probably I can help.

3. Why does a Google search for "Richard Lim" and "Northern Ireland Institute" return no results at all? Can you give me an email address that reaches you directly? Do you actually exist? I google your name too. You don’t exist as well. Email address is officially in our website. Certainly we exist. Alive and well too.Real people, real students and centre as well. What crap are you talking?

4. Why is there no trace of "Dr. R. Hempfing", who you claim is your "President cum Chairman of Board of Examiners"? WHO ARE YOU? DO YOU WANT TO MEET HIM? WHAT PURPOSE? WE CAN LOOK INTO IT

5. Likewise for "Dr. E.C Kow", who you claim is your "Director-General cum Senior Examiner"? DR EC KOW IS A BUSY MAN , TRAVELLING FROM STATE TO STATE AND COUNTRIES ..IF YOU WANT SEE HIM, WE CAN LOOK INTO IT HE IS ALSO ALIVE AND KICKING!!!

6. Why do you claim accreditation from a body that is not entitled to accredit anyone or anything? Be more specific with this question?

7. Why have you (hilariously) threatened me with the FBI and now Interpol rather than answer any of these questions? THREATENING YOU ON FBI AND INTERPOL?COME ON? MARK YOUR own WORDS!!! YOU SEEM TO BE LITTLE THESE NATIONS IN YOUR BLOG WE WERE TOLD TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST YOU.. NO OFFENSE

P.S YOU DO YOUR HOMEWORK??? WE DO OURS TOO.. THANK YOU FOR TIME AND COMMENTS.. EMAIL US. IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE AROUND, CALL US WE CAN BRING YOU FOR A CUP OF HOT COFFEE.

Frankly I don't think any of their responses is worthy of comment. They haven't answered a single question that I asked. Let's make it simple so that even THEY can understand.

The so-called "Northern Ireland Institute of Business & Technology (British)" is a fake educational establishment operated by crooks who are seeking to defraud their victims. It's a scam.

Insanity

I often meet incompetence. I occasionally encounter stupidity. Very, very occasionally I come across madness.

Before anyone panics, no, I’m not talking about any of my family, friends, colleagues or even my clients. No, they’re all perfectly reasonable, sensible and sane. Well, most of them are. OK, some of them are almost normal.

However, there have been a few occasions when I’ve encountered someone completely and utterly bonkers. Mad as a hatter, bats in the belfry, nutty as a fruitcake.

I had another one last week.

As readers will have seen I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few months looking into fake educational establishments. The “Atlantic International University”, “Belford University”, “Omega Global University” and the “University of SouthCentral Los Angeles:, the list goes on and on. None of them are real universities at all, they’re all fakes that award fake degrees. There is a page on the Wikipedia web site that lists many of these non-accredited universities, it’s worth examining next time you hire someone who claims to have a qualification from somewhere you’ve never heard of.

One of these fake establishments calls itself the “Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British)”. Despite this name, they have nothing to do with either Northern Ireland or Britain, they just used those place names to gain a bit of credibility, they’re actually based in Malaysia. They do the usual things, they claim to employ various academics, none of whom can be traced, they claim to be accredited but in fact their accreditation is from an unrecognised body and they claim to be based in places where they aren’t even registered as a company.

I’ve mentioned them a few times in Mmegi and on our blog and eventually they got in touch. That’s when I encountered the madness. They began by telling me that:

“FBI is watching your uncorrectable behavior. You better watch out!!!”

and:

“To avoid unforeseen serious consequence will come after you”

Meanwhile a reader got in touch with them and asked them some questions. They responded by email and copied it to me. I won’t burden you with the nearly 400 words they sent but here are some highlights.

“From the beginning, we sensed that you had been used by the internet terrorist Richard Harriman. Our sixth senses were accurate.”

“NIIB(British) is a genuine establishment providing comprehensive education training by distance learning, home study, open distance education and research activities in the field of education. It provides training people from unemployment to professionals from professionals to businessmen. An internet terrorist Richard Harriman should not discredit our genuine services to mankind.”

“Richard Harriman comment is totally baseless, misleading and lying.”

“Entertainment: He even rudely comments that he would go bald and a tooth drops out. You may tell him that the people of Botswana will cheer if he would boil his mini bald cannon and two flat balls until both of them drop off.”

“Do you think Richard Harriman is an accredited blogger? The answer is no. The public suspected that he is a modern internet terrorist. The Interpol Police are watching him with an eagle eye. The public urge you to distant yourself from Richard Harriman because his actions tell the public that he is an anti European, anti American and anti Asian. He has been classified as an internet terrorist by international community. His action is liable to invite disaster to mankind and unrest to the country.”

“The Interpol police would take action against anyone who runs foul of the law. They are monitoring closely on the internet terrorist (Richard) activity. Warn him to stay away from this unproductive, unpopular and very stupid and indecent job.”

"Strongly urge him to remove all the slanderous and defamation remarks on so many establishments in Europe, USA, Asia and many regions around the world from his illegal blog immediately.”


“Hello, Richard, can you behave yourself and learn more from Madam Theresa than terrorism”

I don’t know where to begin. I’m not the only one who senses that the author of that tirade is not entirely normal, am I? Maybe I should just be charitable and I shouldn’t mock the afflicted?

Let’s just say that I think you can judge the quality of an educational establishment by the sanity of it’s spokesperson. The “Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British)” is completely bonkers.

But, you might ask, what about the people who buy degrees from these crooks? Aren’t they equally to blame? Yes. I agree, they are. I don’t think there can be any sane people who think that a qualification you buy over the internet without doing a significant amount of real work is real. They’re not mad if they think this is how things work, they’re bad.

So here’s a suggestion. If you got a job or a promotion using a fake degree or if you have simply told your employer that you have such a degree you need to come clean and confess. Or just resign. You really, REALLY need to do either of these things as soon as possible because we are going to be naming these fake universities for everyone to see. Do you want to be found out?

Resign or come clean now before we expose you. You’d be insane not to.

This week’s stars

• Irfan from Citizen Design. Go and buy a “Re Mmogo” t-shirt today.

More from NIIBT

A comment arrived from someone calling himself "Richard Lim" and claiming to be the "Senior Manager for International Affairs (marketing & Communication Division)" for the "Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British)".

My comments are in red.

"To Mr Richard Harriman
Much of your comments on NIIBT is ridiculous and utter nonsense [Evidence?]
Please do your homework before posting your comments. [I did.]
1. We are registered on British Virgin Islands. [So why do you call yourself "British" and use "Northern Ireland" in your name?]
2. We have been operating legally for many years (probably long before you were born) [I'm 46 years old.]
3.Our students have been successful in business and in the work force [Give me the names of FIVE independently traceable students.]
4. our courses are world class (you should sign up and learn ) [You are not accredited by a recognised accreditation body. How can your courses possibly be "world class"?]"

Here some simple questions that I think deserve simple answers:

1. Why do you call yourselves the "Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British)" when you have nothing to do with Northern Ireland and you're not British?
2. Why can I find no trace at all of any of the academic staff you claim to employ?
3. Why does a Google search for "Richard Lim" and "Northern Ireland Institute" return no results at all? Can you give me an email address that reaches you directly? Do you actually exist?
4. Why is there no trace of "Dr. R. Hempfing", who you claim is your "President cum Chairman of Board of Examiners"?
5. Likewise for "Dr. E.C Kow", who you claim is your "Director-General cum Senior Examiner"?
6. Why do you claim accreditation from a body that is not entitled to accredit anyone or anything?
7. Why have you (hilariously) threatened me with the FBI and now Interpol rather than answer any of these questions?

Finally, while I was writing this another email arrived from them which just said:

"Devil will never win."

Errrr, yeah, whatever. I don't think there's much point arguing any more.

I'm an internet terrorist

So says the "Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British)", a educational establishment that claims it is "Internationally Accredited and Recognized by International Accreditation and Recognition Council, Australia".

They neglect to point out that this is an unaccredited accreditation body.  For balance you can see NIIBT's web site here.

Their email goes like this. I haven't changed a thing, other than to remove someone's name. Do you think someone didn't take their medication this morning?

"Dear [name removed],

From the beginning, we sensed that you had been used by the internet terrorist Richard Harriman. Our sixth senses were accurate.

We noted that you had passed the information to him. He then twist and turn the contents aiming to destroy the good reputation of NIIBT (British). It is rather unethical.

The British is great.

Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) is registered with the government of British V. Islands. British V. Islands are British Crown Territory. Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) courses are fully accredited and recognized by the International Accreditation & Recognition Council, Australia. International Accreditation & Recognition council is one of the World Quality Assessment and Accreditations.

NIIB(British) is a genuine establishment providing comprehensive education training by distance learning, home study, open distance education and research activities in the field of education. It provides training people from unemployment to professionals from professionals to businessmen. An internet terrorist Richard Harriman should not discredit our genuine services to mankind.

Richard Harriman comment is totally baseless, misleading and lying.

Entertainment:
He even rudely comments that he would go bald and a tooth drops out. You may tell him that the people of Botswana will cheer if he would boil his mini bald cannon and two flat balls until both of them drop off.
Do you think Richard Harriman is an accredited blogger? The answer is no. The public suspected that he is a modern internet terrorist. The Interpol Police are watching him with an eagle eye.
The public urge you to distant yourself from Richard Harriman because his actions tell the public that he is an anti European, anti American and anti Asian. He has been classified as an internet terrorist by international community. His action is liable to invite disaster to mankind and unrest to the country.

The Interpol police would take action against anyone who runs foul of the law. They are monitoring closely on the internet terrorist (Richard) activity. Warn him to stay away from this unproductive, unpopular and very stupid and indecent job.

Strongly urge him to remove all the slanderous and defamation remarks on so many establishments in Europe, USA, Asia and many regions around the world from his illegal blog immediately.

Hello, Richard, can you behave yourself and learn more from Madam Theresa than terrorism

Someone doesn't like me

The "Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British)" (NIIBT) doesn't like me.

A reader approached them and asked them about the comments we made about them in the press and on this blog.

They responded by saying:

"For the interest of students worldwide, our Director-General had responded and posted it onto Consumer Watchdog in Botswana. Our Director-General informed us that the blogger called Richard dare not publish the write up and removed it from the Consumer Watchdog blog because Richard allegations were unfound and lying and misled the people of Botswana."

I assume they're referring to the rather incoherent comment I received from them and which I partially published here? So I "dare not publish the write up" and I have "removed it". Sorry, not true. My comments are still there.

They continued:

"NIIBT (British) is an accredited institution"

Actually that's true. However they are "accredited" by a fake accreditation body (the “International Accreditation and Recognition Council”) so that doesn't really count, does it?

They also claim that:

"The British Government would not tolerate any institutions in British Crown territory to sell the qualifications for profit. Therefore, it was very wrong for Richard to allege that NIIBT is selling their MBA degree."

The British Government has nothing to do with it. They might claim to be based in both the UK and Ireland but in fact they operate from Malaysia. And that business about "British Crown territory"? Try telling an Irish or Malaysian citizen that they're governed by the British Crown and see their reaction. Stand back first.

And as for that bit about them not selling their degrees? In the same email they include this phrase:

"Kindly complete the admission form and send it with payment via T.T or demand draft payable to Victoria Business Centre, P.O. Box l48, 80710 Johor Bahru, Johor, West Malaysia."

Here are some simple facts about the NIIBT that they don't seem to deny.

• They have no genuine accreditation.
• They're not registered as a company in the UK.
• They claim to have a campus in Dublin but they're not even registered as a company there.
• The business name they use includes the word "British" but they don't exist in any part of the UK.
• None of the people listed on their web site appear to really exist.

This is the same bunch that sent me an email which said:

"Richard. FBI is watching your uncorrectable behavior. You better watch out!!!"

and later:

"To avoid unforeseen serious consequence will come after you; you are urged to remove the slanderous comment on us from your consumer Watchdog blog.  You are warned not to use the slanderous article as the cover for your Watchdog blog."

Sorry NIIBT, my comments are still here and they're staying until you show a sign of becoming a legitimate educational establishment.

Books and covers

Can you judge a book by it’s cover? Is the first impression you make of something always a good indicator of quality?

For instance, can you judge a store by it’s appearance? I know plenty of companies (buy me a coffee and I’ll name them) that look and sound remarkably swish but when it comes to quality and service they suck.

I’m thinking of a certain car company that we criticised last year. There’s nothing wrong with their vehicles, I’ve even owned one myself in the past. In their case I think we got a glimpse of the real thing when I criticised one of their foreign dealers (who treated a customer from Botswana like dirt) only to receive a letter from their lawyers demanding that I apologise, beg forgiveness and promise always to say nice things about them in future.

Needless to say I told them where to stick their threats and we haven’t heard from them since. In case you’re interested the entire history of this saga can be seen on the Consumer Watchdog blog.

But it’s not just car companies.

What about colleges and universities? Can you judge them by their appearance? There are plenty of educational establishments that seem to be real universities and colleges but when you take a closer look you find that they’re just scams. Of course I don’t mean any here in Botswana, Oh No, heaven forbid.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the completely silly so-called “Belford University” that awards, sorry, sells degrees to anyone with a few hundred dollars. It was from this bunch of crooks, who have nothing more than web-site and telephone number, that I stole (yes, I confess) a doctorate degree certificate and made myself a Doctor of Medicine.

Incidentally you might think that Belford University isn’t relevant in Botswana? Not so. Last week I got an urgent email one afternoon from a manager in an organisation here who said he was interviewing a candidate for a job the following day and had just noticed in his qualifications a degree from Belford. He’d heard us speaking about them and could I confirm that degree was fake? I certainly could. Who knows how many other candidates for jobs are claiming to have fake degrees? Think about the doctor in SA last week who turned out to be a fake.

Here’s a free service from Consumer Watchdog to the business community. I’ve posted a link on our blog and web site to a Wikipedia site that lists all the commonly used non-accredited universities.

I’ve been pestered recently by another bunch of diploma printers calling themselves the “Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British)”.

It started a long time ago when a reader contacted us after receiving the following email:

“Dear Friend,
We are updating our record and found that you still have not yet enrolled for the Great British NIIBT degree programme. We will be removing and destroy your name from our record if we do not hear from you again. Please keep us inform if you are organising the enrolment and payment for your degree programme with NIIBT the Great British. We look forward to hearing from you soon.”

Shame that this “Great British” institution can’t string a sentence together in English.

That’s probably because they’re not even remotely British. I know, I checked. Their web site repeatedly refers to them as being “British” but claims their campus is in Dublin, in the Republic of Ireland. Strangely no such company is registered in either the UK or Ireland. Their contact details are in Malaysia which seems strangely un-British to me. These charlatans clearly shouldn’t offer fake degrees in Geography.

I originally reported on these crooks in April last year but it took them until this month to notice. That’s strange given that our report was one of the main hits on Google if you search for them. They eventually sent me a very long, rambling email that didn't actually address any of my criticisms so there's no point in repeating it all. However here are some highlights:

"Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) is incorporated in British Crown Territory" (This means precisely nothing. What does "British Crown Territory" mean?)

"NIIBT intend to maintain the prestigious business campus in Ireland". (Rubbish, they don't have a campus in Ireland, they don't even EXIST in Ireland.)

I won’t bore you with the email I sent them pointing out their appalling English, their fake accreditation, their fake addresses, their lack of company registration anywhere they claimed to exist and politely told them to insert their email where the sun doesn’t shine.

That’s when it became amusing. Their response was simple. They said:

“FBI is watching your uncorrectable behavior. You better watch out!!!”

When I asked if they were serious they replied:

"It is serious. To avoid unforeseen serious consequence will come after you; you are urged to remove the slanderous comment on us from your consumer Watchdog blog. You are warned not to use the slanderous article as the cover for your Watchdog blog."

I’m not sure what these serious consequences might be, but I’ll let you know if I go bald or a tooth drops out.

Meanwhile you’ll notice that we haven’t stopped talking about them and nor will we.

Twitter

We’ve had a web site for years and a Facebook page for a while but now we’re tweeting from @ConsumerWatchBW. Follow us for scam alerts and who knows what else!

This week’s stars

• Standard Chartered Bank for not only offering customers evening opening at Game City but are also open on Sundays! Is this a first? A bank actually doing something to benefit their customers?

The "Northern Ireland Institute of Business & Technology" threaten me

After the earlier correspondence with this scam institution I got this comment from the fake "Dr. Gopi":

"Richard. FBI is watching your uncorrectable behavior. You better watch out!!!"

So a fake educational establishment with fake accreditation, fake Board members, fake addresses and fake qualifications that claims to be based in either the UK or Ireland but in fact is based in neither, thinks the FBI, which only operates in the USA, is watching me?

I replied:

"Was this meant to be a serious comment or are you just joking?"

and today I got an incoherent reply from them saying:

"It is serious.
To avoid unforeseen serious consequence will come after you; you are urged to remove the slanderous comment on us from your consumer Watchdog blog.  You are warned not to use the slanderous article as the cover for your Watchdog blog." 

My reply went as follows:

"So you ARE joking then?

1. You don't appear to be genuinely registered as a company anywhere that I can find.
2. You claim to be based in Dublin but you are NOT even registered as a company in Ireland.
3. The business name you claim includes the word "British" but you simply do not exist in any part of the UK (you do realise that the UK and Ireland are different countries, don't you?).
4. Your accreditation is from a fake accreditation agency.
5. None of the people listed on your web site appear to really exist.
6. You threaten me with the FBI who operate solely within the borders of the USA.
7. You claim I have slandered you but cannot justify this claim.
8. You appear to be trying to threaten me with silly phrases like "You better watch out!!!" and the frankly incoherent "To avoid unforeseen serious consequence will come after you".

I will NOT be removing anything from the blog.  In fact if you take a look you will see that I have posted highlights from your emails and this email on the blog."

What do you think? Should I change my mind and remove the comments?

The fake "Northern Ireland Institute of Business & Technology"

We commented on this very suspicious educational establishment late last year, explaining that they are a fake "institute".

They didn't enjoy being exposed so they got in touch with a very long, rambling email that didn't actually address any of my criticisms so there's no point in posting it all.  However here are a few highlights (with my comments in italics):

"Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British) is incorporated in British Crown Territory" (This means precisely nothing. What does "British Crown Territory" mean?)

"NIIBT intend to maintain the prestigious business campus in Ireland". (Rubbish, they don't even have a campus in Ireland, they don't even EXIST in Ireland.)

My response to them went as follows:

"I received the following comment via the Consumer Watchdog blog site.

Unfortunately I doubt I'll be publishing the comment as it doesn't address any of the points I raised in the article.

It fails to address your fake accreditation, the appalling quality of English you use and your failure to give any traceable contact details outside Malaysia.

You fail to address the fact that you call yourself the "Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology" but claim to be based in the Republic of Ireland. However there appears to be no trace of you at the address you give. Similarly the addresses you give in Malaysia are both no more than a post boxes.

You sometimes give your company name as "Northern Ireland Institute Of Business And Technology (British)" but there is no trace in the UK Companies Register of your existence. Similarly no such company has been registered in the Republic of Ireland. Nor do you appear in either of these country's phone directories.

Curiously there IS an entry in the Irish companies register for the "Royal Ireland Institute of Business and Technology" which you also appear to operate but that company was dissolved in 2008.

So, while I thank you for your comments I don't feel any need to change anything I've written."

They're fake, avoid them.

The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Dear Consumer’s Voice

I received an email from someone called Mestika saying they were from the Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology.

Some months ago I enquired with this establishment about a degree but they seemed too suspicious. Do you think they are real?

Absolutely not. They are completely fake. To begin with you can tell a lot from the email they sent you. It said:

“Dear Friend,
We are updating our record and found that you still have not yet enrolled for the Great British NIIBT degree programme. We will be removing and destroy your name from our record if we do not hear from you again.
Please keep us inform if you are organising the enrolment and payment for your degree programme with NIIBT the Great British.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.”

And this is meant to come from an educational establishment? As with almost all scams the quality of the English is terrible.

Like a lot of scams these days they have a web site but they really need to try harder if they want it to be convincing.

Various questions come to mind when you look at the web site. For instance, why do they call themselves the “Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology (British)” when their contact details are in Malaysia? Admittedly they DO give an address in Ireland but it’s in Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, not Northern Ireland, which is part of an entirely different country.

Like any educational establishment they list their senior academics but there you come across another problem. None of them actually exist. Not one of them seems ever to have published any academic works or to have been employed elsewhere. That’s because they are entirely fictional, like the qualifications this fraudulent bunch of scammers offer.

You might wonder whether this establishment has any official recognition or accreditation. Well, in fact it DOES. It is accredited by the so-called “International Accreditation and Recognition Council” or IARC. However the bad news is that this body, IARC, is itself a fake. This is a standard trick by non-accredited universities and colleges. Just buy accreditation from one of the many fake accreditation bodies. No standards are applied, no inspections are made, no checking is actually done. Alternatively what many of them do is just to register a web site and set up their own accreditation body.

If you approach this fake establishment (and I did) and ask them they’ll send you various very amateur documents about the qualifications they’ll sell you. The total cost for one of their fake Master of Business Administration degrees will be a mere £1,600, something around P18,000.

Of course you might think that paying that amount is worth it if you can’t be bothered to actually study for a qualification but the problem will be the criminal deception you commit if you ever suggest to an employer that this is a real qualification. I know of two fairly senior managers in large companies in Gaborone who have been immediately dismissed when it was discovered that they had lied about their qualifications.

Everyone who reads The Voice will know that anyone they meet who claims to have a qualification from the “Northern Ireland Institute of Business and Technology” is a liar.

Do you want to take that risk? It’s not worth it.

Fake qualifications email

Many people (including us) have received a spam email as follows:

“BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT! Is your lack of a degree holding you back from career advancement? Are you having difficulty finding employment in your field of interest because you don’t have the paper to back it up – even though you are qualified? If you are looking for a fast and effective solution, we can help!”

In another email they sent, they said:

“Bacheelor, MasteerMBA, and Doctoraate diplomas available in the field of your choice that's right, you can even become a Doctor and receive all the benefits that comes with it!”

Obviously this is a scam, as well as being scandalous.

However there are two interesting things. Firstly when you call the USA phone number they give you are answered by an automated message that has a South African accent. Clearly our home-grown African scammers are travelling the world. Secondly, notice the spelling mistakes in the second email. “Bacheelor”, “Masteer” and “Doctoraate”. This time those mistakes are deliberate so they can slip past any filters your email system has in place to identify spam email. Never underestimate the intelligence of scammers.

UPS emails

Two weeks ago we alerted Voice listeners to an email claiming to be from Facebook that contained a virus. This week several people have alerted us to another email claiming to be from UPS, the international shipping company. The email says:

“Hello! We were not able to deliver your postal package which was sent on the 14th of January in time because the addressee's address is incorrect. Please print out the invoice copy attached and collect the package at our department.
United Parcel Service of America”

In fact there is no invoice attached, it’s a computer program that will damage your computer. If you get such an email please make sure you delete it without opening it.

Scam appeal

If you think you’ve been the victim of a scam please get in touch. We realise it’s embarrassing admitting if you’ve been a victim but if you spread the word you can prevent the same thing happening to your friends, family and neighbours. We promise you complete confidentiality.