GMA: Unaccredited Degree Holders Fool Public

May 16 -- You might think that a "love doctor" in Phoenix, a college professor in Howell, Mich., and a court administrator in Tucson, Ariz., would have impressive educations.

Both list Columbia State University on their resumes.

What their employers didn't know is that Columbia State is not a college or university at all. It was a diploma mill that shipped out phony certificates until federal agents shut the operation down in 1998.

As Good Morning America's consumer correspondent Greg Hunter first reported a few months ago, there are hundreds of diploma mills, organizations that pose as accredited schools, issuing degrees.

In his ongoing probe, Hunter has found several cases of people in high-profile jobs who purchased such degrees from Columbia State.

A Common and Bogus Link

"Columbia State did not exist. It was never even the tiniest bit close to real," said John Bear, an author who tracks so-called "diploma mills" and who has served as an expert witness for the FBI on the subject.

Bear estimates there are nearly 500 fake schools selling degrees on the Internet. One investigation found that thousands of degrees were sold to federal employees with everyone from congressional staff members, to NASA employees, to U.S. Customs and even Pentagon workers holding degrees from diploma mills, he said.

In the case of Columbia State, Bear says that even the school's brochure cover was fake. The building pictured on it is really a historic mansion outside of New York City. Columbia State was nothing more than a mail drop in Metarie, La. Its operators shipped diplomas from a warehouse in California.

"They never had a campus. They never had a faculty. They never required any work," Bear said. "Columbia State [was] totally, totally fraudulent."

Call Her Dr. Love?

Nevertheless, thousands of people have bought Columbia State degrees including Ruth Sucato, known as the "love doctor" on KNXV-TV, the ABC affiliate in Phoenix. Her job: dispensing advice to the lovelorn.