I imagine this actually happens a lot but few are caught or is verification even attempted. Of course most degrees nowadays aren’t indicative of accomplishment at all.
I’m a couple of credits short of an associates degree in business management from the mid 90s.
The reason I didn’t finish is that I got a job elsewhere and had to relocate.
During that time, I got a couple of diplomas in television production and bookkeeping.
I usually put down vocational school and if it comes up, explain the circumstances in an interview. Come to find out, there are a few like me in that regard.
Right on both accounts.
I knew a guy, long ago, whose undergraduate college had closed a few years after he graduated. The scammers soon found out that, there no longer being a registrar to verify the authenticity of claims, they could sell bogus, back dated, degrees to those wanting to pad their resumes.