Businesses warned to beware of fake vocational diplomas

Employers should be extra alert to fake diplomas when hiring new employees, the council for secondary vocational education in the Netherlands MBO Raad warns. The council is receiving more and more signals of fake diplomas, especially from sectors facing staff shortages such as healthcare and installation technology, MBO Raad chairman Ton Heerts said in a statement.

According to Heerts, MBO Raad is increasingly receiving reports from schools. "They say they are approached more often by employers who want to have the validness of a diploma checked, And then find out together with the school that it is a counterfeit." It can involve someone who never attended the school, or someone who graduated a different course than stated on their diploma, he said as examples.

Employers who suspect that a diploma may be fake, can check the DUO diploma register, which contains digital copies of all valid diplomas, according to MBO Raad. "Employers must be able to count on the potential employees they want to hire having the right skills. An MBO diploma guarantees that. It is precisely because of the shortages of professionals that it is of great importance to check whether a diploma was actually earned in the event of doubt", Heerts said.

He called on employers and schools who encounter counterfeit diplomas to immediately report the forgery to the police.