[jonahbenton]

There is an emotional truth here- to free yourself of your credential by recasting it as someone else's-

Yes, on one level that's fraud, and selling prestige fraud is a grift.

But inclusion and amplification rely on the same emotional operation of using one's platform and assets to jump start a story for others. So in the most generous telling there is some credit here for the intent.

But only some.

Whatever one thinks of Harvard, whatever one thinks of the prestige industrial complex, the actual proposal here is not a transaction any responsible person should participate in on either side. And if I were the issuer, if I were Harvard, I would revoke this credential.

And then we would see the true weight of this prestige proof in the eyes of its former holder.

[throwaway8581]

He's selling a piece of paper that belongs to him. There's no fraud here.

[jonahbenton]

There is.

He offers to rewrite the name with that of the buyer.

And while the paper "belongs" to him, in reality that paper is a credential issued by Harvard, and the source of truth for credential holders is Harvard, not the holders/subjects.

All colleges maintain lists of credential holders.

An attempt to verify the ownership and subject of the credential- which happens quite often, many mid to high level employment offers, all background checks, etc, perform this verification- using the buyer's name, fraudulently rewritten on the piece of paper- will fail.

Issuing fraudulent credentials of various kinds and advertising them as valid...is fraud.

And if you don't think so...I've got a bridge to sell you.

Cheers.

[throwaway8581]

There is no fraud here. The guy addresses all of these things. It's a PR stunt with a piece of paper he owns, carried out openly for all to see. That's not fraud. Certainly, the recipient could turn around and try to do something fraudulent with the diploma, but there is nothing inherently fraudulent about anything this guy is suggesting.