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China has launched a crackdown on 30 fake colleges after a university named them, state media reported today.
This is the sixth such list released by sdaxue.com. Prior to the latest release yesterday, it had already exposed some 400 universities as fake since 2013. Netizens from across the country reported the names of fake colleges to the website through e-mail and social media. Staff then investigated them, Xia Xue, founder of the website said.
The fake colleges are located in 12 provinces and regions including Beijing, Shanghai and Shandong.
Education authorities are coordinating with police to investigate and close the fake colleges, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Unlike in the past, when most of the exposed schools used deceptive names and official websites that resembled those of well-known universities, 22 of the 30 fake universities imitated the names of private institutions that provide training courses for the national adult education examination, which can also be used to seek a university degree.
"It is easy to see through the trick when they fake the names of well-known universities, but it is more difficult to identify if lesser-known institutions are faked," said Xia.
The fake universities send enrollment notices along with a bank account number earlier than real schools and ask students to send tuition fees to the account before a deadline, according to Xia.
Three fake colleges in the provinces of Guangdong, Shandong and Hunan shared the same IP address registered in Hong Kong, suggesting the same scammers are operating multiple fake colleges.
