The business of buying and selling fake diplomas and English certificates allows students to shirk a real education.

The business of buying and selling fake diplomas and English certificates has become popular

The job market for new graduates is very competitive, which makes it attractive for students to pad their resume with certificates they did not earn.

Recently, many leaflets advertising certificates have been publicly distributed around the university campuses along Xuan Thuy Street, Cau Giay District, in Hanoi.

The advertisements offer certificates supposedly granted by the Science-Technology Union for Informatics Application under the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, and also by the Ministry of Education and Training. These certificates, if they were real, would have validity nationwide.

The only requirements to get the phony documents are four 3x4 photos, and one copy of an identification card.

Business has been brisk, as the purchase of these certificates has become popular, especially among last-year students.

Huyen, a student of Vietnam National University-Hanoi, said, “The leaflets are often distributed at my university. It’s very easy to buy one. It’s just like buying vegetables in the market: you can bargain for discounts. If you buy them in groups, you might get a price of VND190,000 (USD9.17) instead of VND200,000 (USD9.66).”

Alongside fake English certificates and degrees, driver’s licenses are also being sold.

Truong Anh Tu an attorney with the Hanoi Bar Association, said that enforcement of this issue remains lax.