The Education Ministry (MOE) put up a notice on its Facebook page on Wednesday alerting the public that its logo was being in Facebook advertisements without its authorisation.

The ads are by companies claiming to offer degrees approved by MOE.

This is the second time the ministry is issuing such an alert on its Facebook page. It previously did so in August, when The Straits Times ran an article on an online degree mill that used the MOE's logo to advertise on Facebook. The advertisement, which links users to a Bestprofessionaldegrees.com website, was accompanied by text that read "approved by the Singapore Ministry of Education & US Department of Education. Enroll now".

A ministry spokesman had told The Straits Times then that this time, the adverts were not associated with the Bestprofessionaldegrees website and the company.

A spokesman from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said that the Singapore Embassy to the United States does not approve or accredit educational programmes in the US.

MOE also advised members of the public to conduct their own checks on the authenticity of the degrees offered.