Pakistani authorities have detained the owner of a software company accused of running a global network in selling fake degrees.
Detectives held Shoaib Shaikh on Wednesday and seized hundreds of thousands of fake degrees during a raid on the Axact company offices in Karachi, Shahid Hayat, provincial director for Pakistan’s federal investigation agency, said.
Police are investigating the company and Shaikh on charges of marketing online degrees from non-existent schools and universities. Reuters reported that the interior ministry had written to the FBI seeking assistance.
The developments follow a report in the New York Times alleging Axact makes millions of dollars from selling bogus degrees. It was supposedly going to launch a TV channel in Pakistan when a New York Times report exposed the alleged fraud this month.
Shaikh and several others were detained on charges of fraud, forgery and cybercrime, Hayat said. It was not immediately known how many people were arrested. “We have seized hundreds of thousands of fake degrees,” Hayat said. “We have enough evidence to proceed – we have forensic evidence.”
The police also sealed the office building, where Hayat said machinery and gadgets were found that were used in the allegedly fraudulent business. A magistrate who supervised the operation said those detained would appear in court on Wednesday.
Local TV footage broadcast images said to be of a room at the company offices, showing what looked like diplomas stacked on shelves along the wall. Hayat also showed reporters what he said were fake university accreditations and student ID cards found at the premises.
Axact has been accused of running hundreds of websites purporting to belong to colleges with names similar to prestigious institutions such as the universities of “Barkley” and “Columbiana”. According to the New York Times, actors were used to play the parts of academics and students in videos on some of the websites.
Axact employees operating a boiler room-style operation also allegedly posed as US officials to bully potential customers into paying thousands of dollars for worthless accreditation, detectives said.
The software company has described the case against it as a conspiracy by rival media groups, and insisted it was not involved in any illegal activity.
If Axact is found guilty, the scandal has the potential not only to bring down the high-profile company but also a new media conglomerate, Bol, which Axact’s owners had been preparing to launch after using its funds to hire some of Pakistan’s best-known journalists.
Shaikh has a history of making flamboyant claims about the company and has previously expressed ambitions to become richer than Bill Gates. In a country with pressing social and economic problems, Axact has claimed it will make education and healthcare accessible to all by 2019.
