, co-author of Degree Mills, fake degree mills are a billion dollar industry that sells thousands of fake degrees and diplomas every week internationally. An audit in 2004 showed that there were 463 employees in the United States federal government that had fake academic degrees and some even had top level security clearance.
Employers can call up the universities that awarded the degree to double check the qualifications of a candidate for employment, but this screening may not be valid against some of the higher priced degree mills. Now they offer verification services as part of their packages. If an employer calls, they are told that the applicant did graduate from that particular college.
However, not all online degree programs are frauds. There are some great universities such as Harvard University that offer online degrees.
So if you are looking to get a degree online, then you must be aware that you need to work for it. You cannot just pay for a course, and get the degree in the mail, and ASSUME it is valid if you did nothing for it. You have to use some common sense as well.