Female student bought fake degree from prestigious foreign university to get master's degree

In a recent trial at the Sha Tin Court (Hong Kong, China), defendant Lee Si-Hsuan, 28 years old, pleaded guilty to two charges: obtaining services by deception and possessing false documents.

According to SCMP , Lee Si-Hsuan is among a number of students who have been caught using fake documents to apply to universities in Hong Kong in recent years. Her case was only discovered after the University of Hong Kong (HKU) received a complaint in March last year.

Lee Si-Hsuan appeared at Sha Tin Magistrates’ Court, and pleaded guilty to using false documents to apply for a master’s degree in Linguistics at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Photo: SCMP

According to court documents, Lee Si-Hsuan claimed to have a BA in Linguistics from Columbia University (USA) and used a fake degree in the name of this school to apply for a Master of Applied Linguistics program at HKU. Her application was approved in 2022.

Not stopping there, she also submitted fake documents to the Immigration Department to apply for a student visa.

HKU's internal investigation found that Columbia University confirmed via email that Lee had never graduated from the university. When HKU asked her to attend a mandatory interview, Lee refused, prompting the school to call the police.

She was later stopped at the border when she tried to leave Hong Kong for mainland China, where Li Sixuan confessed that she graduated from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan campus.

She admitted to paying 380,000 yuan (about 1.3 billion VND) to an intermediary to take an online course at Columbia University, but only attended for a few days. The person later claimed she had “graduated” from the American university.

Police also discovered in Ms. Lee’s luggage a fake copy of her HKU diploma, printed with the words “excellent,” while the real result was only “pass,” according to school records.

The defence lawyer said his client was “very determined” to study at HKU and was a highly motivated learner.

However, the judge stressed that the defendant’s actions had deprived other honest applicants of the opportunity. He asked the prosecution to provide more documents from the school for sentencing next month, stressing: “It is inevitable that she will be sentenced to immediate imprisonment.”

Ly Tu Huyen is currently on bail awaiting sentencing.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/nu-sinh-vien-mua-bang-gia-dai-hoc-danh-tieng-nuoc-ngoai-de-dau-thac-si-2392518.html