Police go after fake education document makers

10 เมษายน 2560

The Education Ministry and police are seeking help from the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society to track down a gang selling fake diplomas, certificates and degrees on social media, permanent secretary Chaipruek Serirak said.

The Education Ministry and police are seeking help from the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society to track down a gang selling fake diplomas, certificates and degrees on social media, permanent secretary Chaipruek Serirak said.

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Police bust fake degree gang

Dumrongkiat Mala
Kornchanok Raksaseri

The Education Ministry and police are seeking help from the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society to track down a gang selling fake diplomas, certificates and degrees on social media, permanent secretary Chaipruek Serirak said.

A website is being developed to allow inquirers to verify a candidate's academic credentials nationwide from Mathayom 3 up to post-graduate education, he said.

"This service aims to protect employers and graduates from being deceived by [fake] degrees," he said.

"They can check the verification of the degree by attaching the required files and sending them to our officers.

"The results would be available in one or two days."

Police on Sunday announced the arrest of four people and charged them with falsifying education certificates for sale on the internet, in Surin and Ubon Ratchathani.

The four arrested suspects and samples of their work were taken to a press conference on Sunday by Bangkok police chief Sanit Mahathavorn, second from right.

They are Kittiwat Charnwimolrat, 23, Juthawadee Sirisuksawad, 21, in Surin, Weerapol Khamsaeng, 25, and Lalita Kaewboonrueng, 22, in Ubon Ratchathani.

Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) chief Sanit Mahathavorn said police have seized from the suspects 18 fake education certificates, 19 stamps of schools and universities, passbooks for receiving money from customers who ordered the fake papers, and computers.

The courts in the two provinces issued arrest warrants for them on a charge of colluding to falsify education certificates, an offence punishable by jail terms of between six months and five years, and a fine of between 1,000 to 10,000 baht.

Mr Kittiwat allegedly admitted he studied how to falsify the documents online.

He told police he used Photoshop to get the certificates stamped with a fake copy of a seal from a school or university.

He paid for the stamps to be produced by specialised shops at prices ranging from 3,500 baht to 9,800 baht apiece.

The suspect said customers ordered mostly Mathayom 3, Mathayom 6 and the kor sor nor (Office of the Non-formal and Informal Education) certificates online.

They mostly used the certificates to apply for jobs in small and medium-sized companies which usually do not check the authenticity of the papers.

Mr Kittiwat said he received between 10-20 orders a month on average and has been selling the fake papers for two years.

The two groups of suspects had made about 1,000 fake certificates in total, according to their accounts.

Mr Chaipruek said it is hard to get rid of networks that supply fake degrees online because when their website or Facebook page is removed, the gang simply starts a new website.