Pakistan launches probe into fake degree scam by Karachi-based Axact

Islamabad: Pakistan today launched a probe into a fake degree scam by an IT firm, a day after a leading US newspaper accused the company of making millions of dollars through an elaborate network of fictitious universities. Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan ordered Federal Investigation Agency to probe the report which quoted former employees by analysing more than 370 websites managed by Karachi-based Axact, a software company which plans to launch a television channel this summer. [caption id=“attachment_1521405” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. AFP[/caption] “It is shameful to hear such kind of news. Unfortunately, it is linked to Pakistanis and will tarnish image of the country,” he said. Pakistani parliament also echoed with the criticism when Senator Aitzaz Ahsan said that Axact should give explanation. Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani set up a committee to probe into the issue and submit a report in a month. The New York Times yesterday accused Axact of running several websites of fake campuses, accreditation bodies which lure people into buying degrees of universities globally. Axact set up an elaborate network of hundreds of websites for fake universities with names like “Columbiana” and “Barkley”, complete with paid actors who appeared as faculty members and students on promotional videos, the report said. The company allegedly impersonated American government officials who “wheedle or bully” customers into buying State Department authentication certificates signed by US Secretary of State John Kerry, the report added. Soon after the news appeared, a message on Axact’s website declared the story “baseless, substandard, maligning, defamatory and based on false accusations”, adding it would sue The New York Times. It termed the allegation as handiwork of business rivals. Axact was recently in news for launching Bol television as it was hiring journalists and media experts at exorbitant salaries. They were offering super facilities like swimming polls for journalists to take a swim when tired of work. It has already signed many of Pakistan’s top TV anchors and journalists. The “university” websites mainly route their traffic through servers run by companies registered in Cyprus and Latvia, and employees would plant fictitious reports about Axact universities on CNN iReport, a website for citizen journalism. The article cited clients from India, the US, Britain and the United Arab Emirates who had paid sums ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars for their degrees, with some believing the universities were real and they would soon receive coursework. PTI