Who Authorized .edu.eu? Nobody Did.
How a private company created an unofficial "European educational domain" that became a haven for degree mills and fraud
A simple Google search using site:edu.eu reveals numerous “educational” websites using the “.edu.eu” suffix. This domain extension, which appears to be official, frequently conveys the impression that educational institutions are EU-certified; however, the truth might be considerably more intricate. My basic investigation indicates that this so-called “European educational domain” may be plagued by substantial issues, which raises doubts regarding its credibility.
The Hollow “Official” Status
“.edu.eu” is not an official educational domain recognized by the European Union or any member state government. Simply put, it’s claimed to be a commercial project launched in 2018 by a private company called Euro Education Domains Registry Limited (EEDRL).
The company’s claimed business model is straightforward: they registered the “edu.eu” domain and now sell subdomains to educational institutions, such as “school.edu.eu.” This means all “.edu.eu” websites are actually third-level domains, completely controlled by this private enterprise and having no connection to EURid, the official EU domain registry.
The European Commission has never authorized any organization to use “.edu.eu” as an official educational identifier. While EEDRL claims in its policy documentation to review applicants’ educational credentials, this review process is purely commercial and carries no legal authority.
The Telling Absence of Legitimate Institutions
A revealing phenomenon is that Europe’s most prestigious public universities—Oxford, Cambridge, Sorbonne, Heidelberg, and others—do not use “.edu.eu” domains. These institutions continue to use their respective national domain suffixes like “.ac.uk,” “.fr,” “.de,” and others.
The majority of organizations that use “.edu.eu” are obscure private schools or self-proclaimed “international institutes” and training providers. The European Institute of Leadership and Management in Dublin (eilm.edu.eu) and the International Business Academy of Switzerland (ibas.edu.eu) are two examples. These institutions frequently advertise impressive-sounding accreditations; however, upon closer examination, it becomes apparent that these credentials are typically obtained from private organizations or industry associations rather than national education departments.
This phenomenon speaks volumes: if “.edu.eu” were truly an authoritative educational identifier, why wouldn’t Europe’s finest universities use it? The answer is simple—it lacks such authority entirely.
A Breeding Ground for Educational Fraud
The fact that “.edu.eu” domains have become a haven for educational scams is even more concerning. In multiple instances, fraudsters have used or exploited this domain suffix that appears to be “official” in order to deceive students.
The Italian “University” Scam
A Reddit user report (archive) exposed a typical fraud: a student paid full tuition to a supposed Italian private university hosted on “iep.edu.eu,” only to have the program suddenly canceled with the “university” disappearing entirely and refusing refunds. Users analyzing the site discovered it was filled with generic templates and stock photos, with no actual campus facilities.
The Scandinavian Degree Mill Network
More serious is a long-running degree-selling operation. According to scholar Dr. Ben Limooie’s LinkedIn disclosure, an individual named “Martin Nielsen” controls multiple “.edu.eu” websites, including “ibss.edu.eu” and “ibas.edu.eu,” specifically to sell fraudulent MBA and DBA degrees. These entities even established fake accreditation bodies to boost credibility, with victims paying thousands of dollars for worthless “degrees.”
Misleading Accreditation Claims
Another troubling pattern involves institutions using impressive-sounding but ultimately meaningless accreditation lists. The European Institute of Management and Technology (eimt.edu.eu) exemplifies this practice. Forum discussions (archive) reveal how these institutions exploit public confusion about accreditation.
EIMT lists numerous credentials including EURASHE, ACBSP candidate status, OTHM, QAHE, DRPF, and others. They claim membership in EAI Malta, which itself holds certain recognitions. However, as education experts point out, these are largely memberships in private organizations rather than official government accreditation. As one forum user succinctly explained: “It’s like, I’ve got a Costco membership, now I’m accredited by Costco, membership doesn’t equal accreditation, ever...”
The fundamental issue is that these institutions “aren’t recognized in the country they are in” and are “going through loopholes of other country recognition” while padding their credentials with “false accreditation fluff.” This strategy deliberately confuses prospective students who may not understand the difference between meaningful government recognition and private organizational memberships.
These cases demonstrate that EEDRL’s claimed “rigorous vetting” is essentially meaningless. Fraudsters can easily create “.edu.eu” subdomains and use their “educational” veneer to implement scams.
Suspicious Infrastructure Patterns
Technical analysis of “.edu.eu” domains reveals concerning patterns that further undermine their credibility. A small dataset examination shows multiple institutions using Chinese DNS infrastructure (DNSPod/Tencent Cloud), which raises questions about their claimed locations and operations.
For example, institutions with names suggesting diverse geographic presence—Southern Technical University Colorado (stu.edu.eu), The Asia Pacific School of Business (apsb.edu.eu), and Eurasian Higher Education and Social Studies (ehess.edu.eu)—all use identical Chinese DNS servers and share the same IP address (203.86.233[.]139). This suggests these “separate” institutions may actually be operated by the same entity.
Even more telling is institutions like The Asia Pacific School of Business, which boasts about having “globally recognized domain name systems” across multiple extensions (apsb.edu.eu, apsb.edu.vn, apsb.edu.ky, apsb.ac.nz, apsb.ac.cn), seemingly focusing more on domain collection than actual educational activities. However, this claim is misleading—none of these domains require educational accreditation to register. Unlike registry-restricted domains like the U.S. “.edu” or U.K. “.ac.uk,” these subdomains can be purchased by anyone willing to pay the registration fee.
WHOIS data reveals further deception: the apsb.ac.cn domain listed on APSB’s website is registered to “海归教育资讯（深圳）有限公司” (Returnee Education Information Shenzhen Co., Ltd.), a Chinese company, not an international educational institution. The registrant contact email “ceo@microbolg.com” contains a typo. This evidence suggests APSB may be a Chinese company targeting overseas education markets rather than the international academic institution it presents itself to be.
Additional patterns emerge across the .edu.eu space: EURACA (euraca.edu.eu), European University (european.edu.eu), and Arab University (alarabia.edu.eu) all use the same webhostbox.net hosting service, with some sharing identical IP addresses (162.241.85[.]111). Multiple “universities” including Avicenna University (avicenna.edu.eu), College.edu.eu, and European University College (euc.edu.eu) share the exact same IP address (52.28.46[.]27) and nameserver configuration.
Subdomain Analysis
The investigation on subdomains reveals a pattern of fraudulent educational institutions using the edu.eu domain. Common red flags include: use of non-existing, virtual or residential addresses as official locations, misleading claims about accreditation and partnerships, hosting infrastructure shared across supposedly separate institutions, misalignment between registered business information and website claims, news media exposure and reports, user reports of scams and degree mills, and attempts to mimic legitimate universities.
All of these institutions appear to target international students with promises of European credentials while lacking proper accreditation or facilities.
Registry:
register.edu[.]eu- The domain registry itself (EURO EDUCATION DOMAINS REGISTRY LIMITED) shows highly suspicious characteristics. Registry operated by EURO EDUCATION DOMAINS REGISTRY LIMITED. Virtual Dublin address. Email from mail.ru servers, fails authentication. Irish company using Russian email hosting.
Active Fraudulent Institutions and Degree Mills:
stu.edu[.]eu- Southern Technical University Colorado. Residential address in Franktown CO. Same IP (203.86.233.139) as apsb and ehess domains. Misappropriates legitimate Iraqi university name.eibm.edu[.]eu- European Institute of Leadership and Management. Flagged on Reddit as “scam institution run by Indians.”eam.edu[.]eu- European Academy of Medical Sciences. UK registration mismatch. Residential/HVAC contractor addresses. Invalid US nonprofit number format.american.edu[.]eu- University of America in Paris. Residential building address. Member of suspicious global-edu.eu network. Name confusion with legitimate American University of Paris.ieu.edu[.]eu- International European University Kiev. Major news coverage. Multiple Reddit warnings. Conditional accreditation only. Poland campus investigated.knu.edu[.]eu- Fake “Open University of Taras Shevchenko.” Flagged on degreeforum as scam. Misappropriates legitimate KNU address. No affiliation with real university.eilm.edu[.]eu- European Institute of Leadership & Management. Residential Dublin address. No Irish company registration. Negative Trustpilot reviews citing AI-generated content.alzette.edu[.]eu- Alzette University. Misappropriates Crescent College and Mbway Lyon addresses. Multiple fake social profiles.euu.edu[.]eu- European Union University. Listed in degree mill databases. Wikipedia unaccredited institutions list.eimt.edu[.]eu- European Institute of Management And Technology. Questioned on degreeforum. Invalid accreditation claims. Swiss registration but suspicious practices.egs.edu[.]eu- European Global School. UK media coverage linking to scams. Misappropriates Istanbul USM address. False accreditation claims.euraca.edu[.]eu- European Academy for Sustainable Development. Same IP (162.241.85.111) as european and alarabia domains. Misappropriated VAT number.european.edu[.]eu- European University. Misappropriates London Strength and Conditioning address. Same hosting as euraca/alarabia.aiu.edu[.]eu- Amsterdam International College. Reddit users visited address - building manager denied existence. False campus claims.eim.edu[.]eu- European Institute of Management. Same Reddit reports as eimt. “Scam institution run by Indians.”douglas.edu[.]eu- Douglas Business School. Warehouse address. Facebook user reports “scamming everywhere.” Targets Chinese students.aic.edu[.]eu- Amsterdam International College (alternative domain). WordPress errors. Same reports as aiu domain. Fake LinkedIn credentials.hgu.edu[.]eu- Harold Gillies University. Florida registration document found. Login-only access. Minimal verification possible.aue.edu[.]eu- American University of Europe. Misappropriates AUE-FON University New York address.wpunu.edu[.]eu- World Peace of United Nations University. Account suspended. Indian court document confirms not UGC recognized.iis.edu[.]eu- Institute For International Studies. Convenience store address in Brooklyn. Registry’s press release highlights this domain.wsu.edu[.]eu- Western State University. Claims Curacao licensing but not in NL registers. WhatsApp-only contact.wilmingtonmu.edu[.]eu- Wilmington Metropolitan University. Mall/Regus address. Not found in UK QUALIFI database despite claims.aaguc.edu[.]eu- AAGUC-APSB and GAFM United College. New Zealand address but no company registration found. AI/stock images only.apsb.edu[.]eu- Asia Pacific School of Business. Same IP (203.86.233.139) as stu/ehess. Chinese company owns related domains. Multiple TLD collection focus.ehess.edu[.]eu- Eurasian Higher Education And Social Studies. Same infrastructure cluster as stu/apsb. No physical address.huparis.edu[.]eu- Horizons University. Multiple Reddit flags. Misappropriates Academy Geopolitics De Paris address.psychologicalsafetyacademy.edu[.]eu- Psychological Safety Academy. No contact info. Stock images only. Limited content.ibas.edu[.]eu- International Business Academy of Switzerland. LinkedIn professional identifies as controlled by “Martin Nielsen” for fake degree sales.cmu.edu[.]eu- California Metropolitan University. Misappropriates legitimate CMU name. Non-existent San Francisco address.ibss.edu[.]eu- International Business School of Scandinavia. Same LinkedIn disclosure as ibas - controlled by “Martin Nielsen.” Media coverage of scam network.rcu.edu[.]eu- Reading Century University. Technical analysis on forums shows Chinese infrastructure. Fake California location claims.eae.edu[.]eu- European Academy of Engineering. Antique store address in Gothenburg. Multiple Chinese academic connections found.ceu.edu[.]eu- Colorado Economics University. Building directory doesn’t list university. Chinese media coverage with misleading content.avicenna.edu[.]eu- Avicenna University. Same IP (52.28.46.27) as college/euc domains. Redirects to .hu domain.euroamerican.edu[.]eu- EuroAmerican Education. No Swiss company registration found. Stock content only. Associated with eimt findings.winncollege.edu[.]eu- Winn College. California address not in building directory.iep.edu[.]eu- IEP Italy International Education Partners. Reddit user paid tuition, program canceled, no refunds. SSL expired. Rome address not in directory.amu.edu[.]eu- American Management University. USA Today “zombie colleges” investigation. Multiple scam network coverage.
An Elegantly Packaged Deception
Weighing all evidence, the true nature of “.edu.eu” domains is clear: this is a commercial project operated by a private company with neither official authority nor effective oversight.
Even more detrimentally, it has either been designed for educational fraud and degree mills or has become one.
For students, seeing a “.edu.eu” domain should raise red flags rather than provide reassurance. This suffix cannot validate any educational credentials and may actually serve as a warning signal. When choosing educational institutions, focus on:
Whether the institution has formal accreditation from its country’s education department
Whether degrees are internationally recognized
Whether there’s a physical campus and complete educational infrastructure
Whether there’s verifiable faculty and alumni networks
The existence of “.edu.eu” domains serves as an illustration of a more extensive issue: commercial packaging frequently takes the place of authoritative identifiers when legitimate channels are unable to provide them. However, for students, appealing packaging can never serve as a substitute for genuine educational value.
References
This article is based on the following public sources:
Dataset
A list of 224 edu.eu subdomains detected through OSINT methods. Approximately 61 of them host live websites: