Qualifications fraud is real, and evolving; artificial intelligence is making fake certificates such as diplomas faster and cheaper to make, and more convincing than ever.
That’s according to a webinar by the verification service Prospects Hedd, that ran during International Fraud Awareness Week 2025. In sum, the service makes the case that fakes generated by AI are increasing; which implies the need for employers and universities to work together more on verification; though it noted the UK doesn’t have such a ‘routine mechanism’, and hence without a ‘trust framework’, AI can exploit any gap. “They aren’t abstract questions any more,” said Jake Shumilin of Hedd. For an employer in a safety-critical field, they may hire someone who lied on their CV, or claimed to be qualified from an overseas uni that doesn’t exist. For UK universities the risk is reputational; a fake degree may come from a genuine uni, but the buyer never took the course. As for the size of the problem, Hedd quoted one of the biggest players in screening, Reed, that has 2000 ‘fake reference houses’ on its database.
Collaboration
Jake Shumilin, product manager at Hedd, spoke of a need for collaboration, between countries and between universities, employers and screeners. As he said, student information systems, screening platforms and employers’ workflows ‘all speak in slightly different languages’, and fraudsters exploit those gaps. Hence a trend towards consistent data standards; and methods of exchange; and a definition of what a verified credential means. Where verification is inconsistent, AI can step in he warned, and create ‘plausible imitations’. As he put it, a digital credential is only as trustworthy as the data in the system behind it. The prospect is of such a credential that’s portable (by the holder) and trustworthy. Australia and Canada have such things; the European Union is piloting a digital credential ‘wallet’; however, the UK unfortunately does not have an equivalent.
About Prospects Hedd
Hedd offers a service whereby employers and recruitment agencies can verify the UK degree qualification of job candidates. Visit www.hedd.ac.uk.
More in the January 2026 edition of Professional Security Magazine.
