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When a PMP credential is not real: what is our responsibility? 

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Juan Posada Toro Customer Success Manager| Rockwell Automation Envigado, Antioquia, Colombia

A PMP credential represents more than letters on a resume. It represents a commitment to professional competence, ethics, and trust. But what happens when that trust is deliberately abused?

What would you do if you discovered someone claiming to be a PMP when the credential cannot be verified, an organization using the PMI logo without authorization, or someone offering to take the PMP exam on behalf of candidates for money? Would you confront the person, report it to PMI, or assume it is not your responsibility?

Certification fraud does more than give one person an unfair advantage. It can undermine the credibility of thousands of legitimate credential holders and erode the trust organizations place in project professionals.

How can we help protect the integrity of the PMP credential while acting fairly, responsibly, and in accordance with the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct?

Have you ever encountered a questionable certification claim or suspected credential fraud? What did you do?

Let’s explore this topic together and hear different perspectives.

If in doubt, PMI’s Certification Registry provides a way to verify a credential: https://www.pmi.org/certifications/certification-resources/registry

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Kiron Bondale Retired | Mentor| Retired Welland, Ontario, Canada
Juan -

The one challenge with the registry is that people can opt out of being included which can make it challenging to verify whether they hold the credential or not. In a hiring context, it is reasonable for HR or the hiring manager to ask for proof of qualifications such as their certificate, but outside of that context it might be difficult to be 100% sure.

Kiron
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Luis Branco CEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, Ldª Carcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Juan, this raises an important issue because protecting the integrity of a credential requires both action and restraint.

I would distinguish suspicion, verification and adjudication.

A credential not appearing in the public PMI Certification Registry is not, by itself, evidence that the credential is false, since credential holders may opt out of appearing there.
Similarly, unauthorized logo use, a false credential claim and proxy testing are different forms of misconduct and may require different evidence and reporting channels.

So, for me, the responsibility is not simply to choose between confronting someone, reporting them or doing nothing.

It is to verify what can reasonably be verified, distinguish facts from assumptions, preserve relevant evidence, and report a sufficiently substantiated concern through the appropriate channel. Just as importantly, we should avoid turning suspicion into accusation.

This reflects an important balance in the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct: we have responsibilities regarding unethical conduct, but complaints should also be substantiated by facts.

There is also a governance question behind the ethical one.
Credential holders can help protect the integrity of the profession, but determining whether a credential is fraudulent ultimately requires legitimate authority and due process.
We can observe, verify, document and report.
We should not assume the authority to adjudicate.

Perhaps the difficult question is therefore not only, “What is our responsibility?”

It is also: At what point does a reasonable suspicion become sufficiently substantiated to create a responsibility to report, while still protecting procedural fairness?
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Rami Kaibni
Community Champion
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Juan, I agree with Kiron's feedback. If someone opts to not be included in the registry and also make their credential private on Credly, it will make it challenging to verify. You can always reach out to PMI but I am not too sure if they will disclose any info on other individuals.

In my opinion, being included in the registry should be mandatory, not optional.

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