Overseas students pay thousands for fake certificates

Desperate Asian students are paying conmen thousands of dollars to obtain fake English language certificates, says an Auckland academic.

Mike Roberts, academic vice president of international tertiary institution AIS St Helens, said he has seen about 20 such certificates in the past year.

The scam was another example of how Asian residents living in this country were preying on young students who had left their home countries for the first time, he said.

Mr Roberts said the students are being conned by advertisements which offer to help students without an approved English language qualification, such as the IELTS test, which is required to get into degree courses.

Once contact is made via an advertised cellphone number, a meeting is set up in a cafe where the student is told they can be helped into a university, polytechnic or private college for $8000.

Half that amount is then handed over along with passport, academic documents and a photograph and a few days later the scammer hands over a fake IELTS certificate in exchange for another $4000.

Students caught with false papers are removed from their course and police are informed.

While most can re-enrol, the fraud is recorded and they face expulsion and an early flight home if they are involved in further trouble.

Mr Roberts said police are undertaking several prosecutions against people caught peddling false documents, but this was unable to be confirmed with the Asian Crime Squad.

The export education industry is wary of the spread of such illegal activities, especially as reports of incidents affecting Asian students in New Zealand have been getting prominent coverage in Chinese media.

Chinese newspaper People's Daily has claimed students arriving in New Zealand are getting involved in prostitution, gambling, drug abuse and gang activity.

It has reported 20 foreign students have been killed in this country in the past six months, a figure disputed by police.

As China one of this country's largest markets for students, education institutions are concerned such stories will worsen an industry slowly recovering from the impact of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) virus and the high New Zealand dollar.

Maurice Kirby, secretary for the Association of Private Providers of English Language, said he was aware fake certificates were in circulation, but did not know how widespread the problem has become.

All schools must provide information to all new students on life in New Zealand, but he said they may have to begin issuing warnings about such scams.

"We can warn students as much as we like but you're not going to stop the totally amoral sharks out there," he said.

Auckland University of Technology and Auckland University have developed their own screening procedure in co-operation with the police.

An AUT spokesman said fake certificates were a problem about 18 months ago, but are now easily detected.