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SINGAPORE – In an attempt to get a part-time teaching job at an international school, a 30-year-old man forged a degree certificate from the National University of Singapore (NUS), even though he had not completed his studies at the university.
Chinese citizen Xie Xin was fined $ 4,000 on Friday (December 11), after pleading guilty to one count of fraudulently using a forged document as if it were genuine.
Court documents indicate that Xie, a permanent resident here, was admitted as a student at NUS on August 1, 2011.
But he dropped out of his studies on April 18, 2016, and did not meet the requirements for a degree.
In the middle of that year, Xie downloaded an image of an NUS certificate for a degree in computer engineering and inserted his name into it using the Photoshop image-editing tool.
He was reinstated as a student after a successful appeal on January 13, 2017, but was academically dismissed about five months later for failing to comply with exam regulations.
On November 14, 2018, Xie applied in person for a part-time teaching job at Ascensia International School through a presentation from another part-time teacher at the school. He was interviewed by a member of his staff the same day.
The next day, he gave Ascensia the degree certificate that he had forged in support of his job application and interview.
Subsequently, Xie accepted a service contract with the school for the period from November 15, 2018 to December 31, 2019.
On February 14, 2019, an Ascensia human resources executive, who was tasked with processing his application, told him to sign a document called the “Speaker Statement Form and Certificate Authenticity Verification.”
But he hesitated and asked if he could use his A-level certificate as part of his job application instead of the forged degree certificate.
He also submitted a statement to the school four days later, saying that he had not completed his senior project at NUS and that he had not “fully graduated yet”, but that he will finish his studies when he is ready.
The executive then contacted NUS to verify the authenticity of Xie’s degree certificate. The university responded that the forged document did not match any of its graduates’ records.
A NUS employee made a police report on March 5, 2019, and Xie was fired from the school on March 14 of that year.
Xie initially told police that the forged certificate was a photograph of the original shown to him by a NUS staff member, but he eventually admitted to the forgery.
According to court documents, the school could still have hired Xie if he had presented his valid A-level certificate, albeit on a lower pay scale.
For his crime, Xie could have been jailed for up to four years, plus a fine.
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