Tuesday 27 March 2012

The International Biographical Centre - more fake awards

Some while ago I came across the web site of a local company that offers "a wide range of business support services, mentoring and management consultancies". Their CEO, who says he "holds a Doctorate degree (PHD) in Business Administration from United States", also claims to have the "International Order of Merit and Twentieth Century Achievement Award from Britain" and to be "a recipient of honours and awards from International Biographical Centre".

Does he really think we won't find out that these are prizes you can buy for money from the "International Biographical Centre"?

Just to check this out I went to the web site of the "International Biographical Centre". On their site you can submit your own details and see if you're entitled to one of their fabulous awards.

Here's my confession. I lied. I made up an entirely fictitious identity, qualifications and experience and guess what? I got a letter. Sorry, my fake identity received a letter.


All I have to do to receive my award is send them $255. I can also get a "Suite of diplomas", a "Citation of Meritorious Achievement" and  "Medal of Intellect", all for more money.

The Department of Commerce in the Government of Western Australia states that this bunch produce no more than "phone books with fake leather covers" and that the "awards" are "an ego boost which isn’t necessarily worth the paper it is written on".

I agree. This is a scam and the people who pay for these bogus awards are bogus themselves.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for helping to spread the word about these unscrupulous charlatans. They take money from vain underachievers bent on impressing the gullible and uneducated public. Many of them do this with the hope that it will pay off in spades, which it sometimes does.

My Aunt went to a "naturopath" who had fake "awards" from the IBC and ABI (its sister organization) plastered all over his walls. She is elderly and suffering with a rare abdominal cancer, but didn't like what she heard from the physicians she saw, or more accurately didn't like the delivery. So she took the advise of a nut-job neighbor & went to this bona fife quack. It took quite a bit of time and energy to convince her that he was not qualified to help her with his "Electrodermal testing" and his "herbal remedies", which of course he sold out of his office. He went so far as to tell her that she didn't have cancer after all, but rather she had "Opuntia aurea", which he proposed to treat with a very restrictive diet (causing her to lose even more weight) and his herbal concoctions. She had been very impressed with all of the awards on his walls. This quackery cost us valuable time, which has caused her cancer to spread and render it incurable. I finally convinced her to see a real doctor, but the best they can do is prolong the inevitable at this point. These "awards" ARE NOT HARMLESS amusements. They should be illegal, and the law should be enforced!! To anyone reading this, PLEASE, never give them a single dime!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for helping to spread the word about these unscrupulous charlatans. They take money from vain underachievers bent on impressing the gullible and uneducated public. Many of them do this with the hope that it will pay off in spades, which it sometimes does.

My Aunt went to a "naturopath" who had fake "awards" from the IBC and ABI (its sister organization) plastered all over his walls. She is elderly and suffering with a rare abdominal cancer, but didn't like what she heard from the physicians she saw, or more accurately didn't like the delivery. So she took the advise of a nut-job neighbor & went to this bona fife quack. It took quite a bit of time and energy to convince her that he was not qualified to help her with his "Electrodermal testing" and his "herbal remedies", which of course he sold out of his office. He went so far as to tell her that she didn't have cancer after all, but rather she had "Opuntia aurea", which he proposed to treat with a very restrictive diet (causing her to lose even more weight) and his herbal concoctions. She had been very impressed with all of the awards on his walls. This quackery cost us valuable time, which has caused her cancer to spread and render it incurable. I finally convinced her to see a real doctor, but the best they can do is prolong the inevitable at this point. These "awards" ARE NOT HARMLESS amusements. They should be illegal, and the law should be enforced!! To anyone reading this, PLEASE, never give them a single dime!!

Anonymous said...

yes, this is a big scam .....do not trust them