Fake certification cards

Diving in shops in South East Asia, it is now being reported to me that potential divers are walking in through the door with fake certification cards - I could hardly believe this story.

My first question is why? Why would you risk your life just to get out of taking an entry-level diver course? These days you pay your fee and then do the academic section online before heading into confined water to learn the skills required to become a safe diver and then reproducing those skills in an open water environment.

These days with online checks, all you do is give your name and date of birth and diver certification can be cross referenced. From what I am told, the fake certification cards are poor quality, the logo and are a give away and no diver number exists. That will no doubt change in the future as counterfeiting quality improves but unless they are able to hack dive certification agency records then an online cross reference will find them out.