An investigation by the BBC has found that academic qualifications sold on the internet by a fake university are being used by thousands worldwide, including almost 150 in Britain. St Regis University, allegedly based in Liberia, was shut down in 2005 after the U.S. government found that it was actually being run by fraudsters based in Washington State.

Whilst the two men who founded the illegitimate institution have now been jailed, it is believed they made up to £4 million selling fake qualifications online. According to the institution’s website, bribes to Liberian officials had secured its legitimacy.

The BBC report claimed that one British man, Tom Boyd- Smith, regularly listed his qualification from St Regis on his CV. Despite having a number of genuine academic qualifications, Mr Boyd Smith, who works for the Royal Institute for the Blind as an expert witness, paid around £700 for a PhD in Social Science from the university in 2003.

Speaking to the programme, Mr Boyd- Smith said “While I was of course aware that the PhD was by correspondence rather than by attendance at a UK university, as my other qualifications have been obtained, I fully believed it to be valid and legitimate.” Mr Boyd- Smith also stressed that his job was based on his experience rather than a qualification from the St Regis.

The programme also tracked down registered pharmacist Janet Walkinson who paid a similar amount for a PhD in pharmacology from St Regis. She also claimed that she was unaware of the fraudulent nature of the qualification, saying “I was totally unaware that the University of St Regis was not a legitimate academic body. I feel foolish to have been taken in by them.”

However, Jack Zurlini, the assistant attorney general of Spokane County in Washington, has said that warning signs that the online "university" was not legitimate were clear.

He told the programme; “There was no coursework involved. You could choose what date you graduated. So if you had written papers in the 80s and 90s that you felt you ought to have a degree with, but you didn’t, you could ask St Regis: ‘Please backdate my degree to 1985'.”

Concerns have also been raised in the US about how the fake qualifications have been used. Reports have suggested that many have used high school and college diplomas purchased from the self confessed "diploma mill" to obtain jobs in American government and military.

In July, Kristen Nelson, director of communications and government relations for the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia told the Washington Post “Literally you could have someone using a diploma in an extremely harmful way if they are not properly trained.” The scam prompted the state legislature in Virginia to pass laws making it illegal to use fraudulent degrees.