The National Police has arrested twenty people and is investigating more than one hundred throughout Spain for acquiring counterfeit degrees from thirty Spanish universities from an organization based in the Dominican Republic that sold the certificates in exchange for prices ranging from 300 to more than a thousand. euro.
The group had the capacity to stamp the die-cut stamps of dozens of universities in the country, in addition to having a repository with the signatures of numerous rectors and secretaries of university centers, the Madrid Police Headquarters has reported.
The investigation began in June of last year when one of the agencies alerted the agents to the possible existence of false university degrees.
The agents verified that different websites could be found in which the acquisition of counterfeit qualifications was offered.
Most of the offers were part of a hoax as customers never received the certificate they requested and vendors cut off all communication.
However, the researchers detected an organization that did comply with its orders and delivered to its clients a multitude of degrees from different universities in the country.
The group, based in the Dominican Republic, was characterized by its technical capacity and sophistication since it had the capacity to stamp the die-cut seals of more than thirty Spanish universities, in addition to having a reserve with signatures of rectors and secretaries of the different centers.
Once the purchase of the falsified degree was agreed, the organization demanded payment from its clients through different money transfer platforms while the certificate was sent through an international courier company.
Clients had the option of acquiring only the academic degree in digital version or the physical diploma, which included the die-cut seal, the official logo and the signatures of the university authorities.
The agents were able to prove that the organization had been engaged in this activity since 2019, although its productivity had increased since last year.
Although the investigation is still open to the twenty arrested, crimes of document falsification, fraud and in some cases intrusion are attributed to them.
