Careful What You Say

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This different game included work - sometimes very substantial - done by these applicants. The St. Regis con artists pretended that the assignments, projects, theses, and dissertations submitted by these people were assessed and approved by experienced faculty. Since the authorities have seized all St. Regis files, both electronic and print, they have in their hands the hard evidence of the works submitted by these few people. As a matter of fact, St. Regis maintained an electronic library where all written works submitted by "graduates" were published. Some of these works were very substandard even ludicrous, some were mediocre, and a very small number could be actually compared in quality with theses or dissertations submitted to regular, accredited universities.

These people duped this way can be accused of naivete, stupidity and many other things, but not dishonesty. People also seem to forget that for a number of years the Liberian embassy and Liberian Ministry of Education confirmed St. Regis accreditation and legitimacy. Now we know that Liberian officials were bribed, but we had no way of knowing that at the time.

This kind of explanation invites a number of problems...
With so many accredited institutions on public display, why would anyone bother with the next 'new' thing 'accredited' from Liberia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Uganda...?
Why, if not to 'pull a fast one'?
I'm not saying that 'pulling a fast one' is moral or immoral, for it's the sole business of the agent, but I say that if one's goal is 'working hard', why doesn't one enroll in a 'research only' degree?
Didn't people think twice about 100% PLAR degrees?
The only caution is that people wanted it 'easy and fast'...but some might have objected 'not that easy and not this fast'.
Thirty years ago being misled in good faith was very likely, much as it is unlikely today, after the internet made information really fast and cheap.
Decades ago one had to buy 'guides', relying on the biased opinion of the author, or phone/write agencies, without receiving a reply.
Today I can just visit say detc.org ...i no longer need to write or buy books.
So do people want a fast'n'dodgy degree that looks impressive, say to impress dates or to bolster self-esteem (or other reasons)?
Fine, but please it isn't Oxford.