Hyderabad: Even though there are strong advanced security features in certificates issued by Osmania University, unscrupulous persons haven’t stopped from tampering with the certificates, but still the tightening of such acts is upping its strategy to tackle such malpractice.

The rare occurrence of fake certificates happens, they are exposed by the security cell which is strongly acting.

The university, every three months, is unearthing at least 10 to 12 fake certificates while verifying their genuineness as sought by government agencies and private companies. Before employing candidates, government, private and corporate companies seek the varsity’s help to verify certificates submitted by candidates. Some organizations were making online requests while others were approaching through third-party institutions to get the prospective employee’s certificates verified.

According to officials, six certificates between February and July 2020 were found to be fake, while between November 2019 and January 2020, the authorities exposed 13 fake certificates. Similarly, 26 certificates were found to be fake between February and May 2018.

The major change in certificates done is with marks. In some cases, candidates were found to change their marks from second division to distinction, while in some cases, fake degree or PG certificates were produced though the candidate had not cleared the relevant examination. In a recent case, a candidate who bagged a job in a multinational company here was found to have inflated marks on his certificates. “We find fake certificates after the academic year ends as candidates join the companies. Not just from local government, private and corporate companies, we also get requests from foreign universities and companies abroad to verify certificates of candidates,” an official said.

Security features in currency notes resemble our, OU certificates also. They have features like logo, watermark, a particular paper thickness with each certificate also coming with a unique code number. “Generally, we find fake certificates of short memos in professional courses like engineering, pharmacy, MBA, etc. After verifying certificates, we provide a genuineness certificate to the employer. Periodically, we give details of the fake certificates to the police,” a senior official said.