Ex-NUS student fined $4,000 for forging degree cert to get a job

In a bid to land a part-time teaching job at an international school, a 30-year-old man forged a National University of Singapore (NUS) degree certificate, even though he had not completed his studies at the university.

Chinese national Xie Xin was fined $4,000 yesterday, after pleading guilty to one count of fraudulently using a forged document as a genuine one.

Court documents state that Xie, a Singapore permanent resident, was admitted as an NUS student on Aug 1, 2011, but withdrew from his studies on April 18, 2016.

Around the middle of that year, Xie downloaded an image of an NUS certificate for a computer engineering degree and inserted his name onto it using Photoshop.

He was reinstated as a student after a successful appeal on Jan 13, 2017, but was academically dismissed about five months later after failing to meet exam regulations.

On Nov 14, 2018, Xie applied in person for a part-time teaching job at Ascensia International School and was interviewed by a member of its staff.

The next day, he submitted the degree certificate he had forged to the school, in support of his job application and interview.

Xie later accepted a contract of service from the school for the period between Nov 15, 2018, and Dec 31, 2019.

On Feb 14 last year, he was told by a human resources executive from Ascensia to sign a document called "Lecturer Declaration Form and Verification of Certificate Authenticity".

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 submitted a statement to the school four days later, saying he had not completed his final-year project at NUS and had not "fully graduated yet" but would finish his studies when ready.

The executive then contacted NUS to verify the authenticity of Xie's degree certificate.

The university replied that the forged document did not match any of its graduates' records.

A police report was made on March 5 last year and Xie was dismissed from the school on March 14.

Xie initially told the police that the forged certificate was a photograph of the original one shown to him by an NUS staff member, but later admitted to the forgery.

According to court documents, Ascensia may still have hired Xie if he had submitted his valid A-level certificate, though on a lower salary scale.