Getting a college degree online is a great way to level up your skills and your hireability while keeping a flexible schedule. But not every online degree program is created equal – and some of them may not even be real!

Be wary of scammers selling quick degree programs online. The school’s website can be well-designed and use a familiar name to make it sound real, but in the end, you won’t earn a degree – and you’ll have lost your money.

Here are a few ways to spot a college degree scam:

• The program doesn’t require you to study or take exams. They may not even require you to interact with a professor at all. Legitimate secondary education institutions will always require these for you to obtain a degree.
  
  
• The program claims you can get a degree from them based ONLY on experience. Real colleges and universities may give some credits based on relevant experience, but not an entire degree.
  
  
• The program is too fast. An accelerated degree program is nothing new – but even a quicker program could take a year or more. Don’t trust any site that offers a degree in just days, weeks, or months.
  
  
• You noticed the degree from pushy ads. Often, advertisements for fake degrees will be very in-your-face. Spam, pop-up ads or frantic phone calls are common. Legitimate institutions will not commonly use aggressive tactics.
  
  
• The school is not accredited. The website may lie and claim that the school is accredited. It is important to visit a third-party site, like the Department of Education’s website, to double check accreditation.