Building trust in the time of AI-generated fraud
The prevalence of images generated by artificial intelligence and hallucinations presented to users seeking answers erodes trust. It also exacerbates the existing problem of fraudulent international credentials.
Generative AI can do more than create fake documents. Through vibe coding, bad actors can quickly construct a technological backbone, giving false credibility to fake verification platforms, spoofed emails, and knockoff recognition websites. While Microsoft Copilot rejected my attempt to make a fake diploma because of internal guardrails preventing academic fraud, not all generative AI programs have ethical scruples.
This raises the fundamental question – “who or what can I trust?” The answer cannot be “no one,” lest higher educational institutions close enrolment for fear that any credential might be fraudulent. We must build trust to move forward in a world with ever increasing possibilities of fake degrees and hallucinated knowledge.
Partnering with credential evaluators can restore and sustain the trust necessary for international education and partnerships. Indeed, that is the purpose of credential evaluation. The stated mission of the non-profit Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE), “to ensure that educational qualifications are fairly and accurately recognised across borders”, might be restated as “to build and establish trust concerning educational credentials.”
The question of what and who to trust in international education is not going away. But working with the right partner can make it easier to do so.
We can work together to safeguard educational credentials
Institutions that partner with credential evaluators gain a stakeholder for combating fraud and establishing trust in authenticated credentials.
Looking forward, this means investing in better systems for document delivery. Whether through API integration, digital document hubs, or online verification platforms, infrastructure that supports the digital transfer of student information can safeguard the enrolment process.
When institutions respond to verification requests from credential evaluators, they help prevent fraud. Clear and timely communication enables us to better detect authentic and counterfeit credentials
Many credentials remain paper based. A significant number cannot be verified online. Therefore, authentication is necessary to be confident in the documents you receive. This process takes time and resources. ECE has centuries of combined experience in fraud detection. We have received documents from over 17,000 unique institutions. Every new document is checked against our database of authenticated documents.
Still, we cannot do this alone. Educational credential evaluation professionals require the collaboration of institutions. When institutions respond to verification requests from credential evaluators, they help prevent fraud. Clear and timely communication enables us to better detect authentic and counterfeit credentials.
We can advise institutions about educational systems and credentials
The rapidly evolving international education landscape has created an environment where credentials, educational systems, and institutions are encountering each other for the first time. Education is complex, and its representation on documents is not homogenous. Finding time to acquire knowledge and build resource libraries for accurate credential evaluation and fraud detection is challenging.
The expertise of credential evaluators can help. We want to share our knowledge and research with you. We can be your educational system guide, navigating different recognition systems, qualification frameworks, and assessment schemes.
Adding international institutional partnerships? Our new Global Partnership Insights safeguards against linking your institution to diploma mills.
Working with documents or doing your own credential evaluations? The ECE ConnectionTM, our online credential evaluation knowledge hub, provides country-specific resources and training solutions. Its message board is a place to share evaluation knowledge and resolve credential conundrums. The Connection AdvantageTM unlocks grading scales, credential equivalencies, and over 6,300 sample documents, which support the identification of fraudulent and authentic credentials.
We can trust when we work together
In an age of AI-generated information, knowing who and what to trust is a difficult but important skill. Trust is a necessary element of international education. Collaboration makes it easier. When institutions and credential evaluation companies work together, we build trust in each other, our ability to detect fraud, and the credentials we receive.
About the author: Daniel Mueller is a research and knowledge evaluator at Educational Credential Evaluators. He earned his doctorate from Marquette University. He now applies his academic expertise to global education assessment and credential analysis, playing a key role in maintaining ECE’s internal knowledge database. He frequently presents on best practices in credential evaluation and the acceptance of digital academic documents, and he regularly shares credential evaluation insights on the ECE ConnectionTM.
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