AXACT COMPANY SCAM

Contents
Axact Company Scam......................................................................................................................3

Fraud.................................................................................................................................................3

Degree Mills......................................................................................................................................4

Introduction to AXACT:.................................................................................................................5

History:..............................................................................................................................................5

A Summary of the Investigation on the Degree Mill Operation and Current Updates.............6

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s show “Marketplace”......................................................6

Products offered by AXACT:..........................................................................................................7

Company’s response to the allegations...........................................................................................8

Official investigations.......................................................................................................................9

The Impact of Fraud and Degree Mills in our Society................................................................10

What could and should be done:...................................................................................................10

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Axact Company Scam

Fraud

According to the terminology guide produced by the Canadian Information Centre for
International Credentials (CICIC),

A fraudulent credential is defined as “a document that has been modified or reproduced without
authorization of the original issuing body. A fraudulent document is also considered forged if it is
claimed that it was issued by a legal entity that did not issue it.” 

 Various types of fraud include:

 Alteration of documents, such as grades on a transcript, or substitution of a name on a degree
where the degree belongs to a different person;
 Completely fabricated or counterfeit documents;
 Institutional fraud, which could involve bribing officials in legitimate institutions to produce
authentic-looking documents
 Misleading or interpretive translations, such as taking a translator’s word that a Latin
American Bachiller credential is a university-level Bachelor’s degree. 

It is important to keep in mind that instances of fraud like the ones noted above are different from
degree or diploma mill credentials, which will be further discussed below.

 Several warning signs that can help you detect if a document could be fraudulent.

Things to look out for include:

 Too many fonts appearing on the document,

 Several spelling errors,
 Unusual signatures or stamps,
 Age or biographical discrepancies,
 Evidence of white out/erasure.

Unfortunately, advanced technology that is readily available online has made it increasingly easy for
people to either obtain or produce fraudulent documents.  Tools and tricks such as authentic-looking
degree templates, fake stamps, editing software, and website spoofs can often go unnoticed by even
experienced credential evaluators.  Some of the best ways to combat fraud are to be familiar with
various educational systems and have access to reliable resources to locate this information;

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implement strong documentation requirements at your institution, such as requiring official

documents to be sent directly from the issuing institution, or by using original documents; and
making use of online verification tools where possible.

Degree Mills

Credentials issued by degree mills are another set of problematic documents that are becoming
increasingly prevalent.  Allen Ezell, former FBI agent and degree mill expert, estimates that 50%
of PhDs issued in the U.S. are fake.  Allen Ezell and John Bear co-authored the book Degree Mills:
The Billion-Dollar Industry That Has Sold Over a Million Fake Diplomas, and define the following
characteristics of degree mills in their book:

 “Degree-granting authority does not come from a generally accepted government agency;
 Procedures for granting credit for prior learning and for determining the amount and quality of
work done to earn the degree, do not meet generally accepted standards, and;
 Those who make the decisions on credit, and on quantity and quality of work, do not have the
credentials, experience or training typically associated with people performing these tasks.”

In other words, degree mills are institutions that operate without proper accreditation and offer
credentials that require little to no work to obtain, and are run by individuals who do not have the
appropriate qualifications or experience to evaluate credit and coursework.

There are several red flags that will help you determine if an institution is a degree mill.

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These include:

 Similar or almost identical names to legitimate institutions (i.e. The accredited and
recognized university of wolverhampton vs. Degree mill university of wolverhamton, without
the “p”),
 Offering credits or an entire degree based solely on life experience,
 Little information about the physical location of the institution,
 A strong emphasis on discounts or payment of the credential (i.e. for only $3000, the
institution will throw in a PhD degree along with the Master’s degree).

It is crucial to check the institution’s recognition or accreditation status and to be aware that, in
addition to degree mills, accreditation mills exist as well, with the sole purpose of appearing to
legitimize degree mill institutions and the “credentials” that they issue.

Introduction to AXACT:

Native name ‫ایگزیکٹ‬

Industry Software
Founded 1997
Founder Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh
Headquarters Karachi, Pakistan
Products IT software, illegitimate academic qualifications
Owner Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh
Website www.axact.com

History:

• Founded by Shoaib Ahmad Shaikh, Viqas Atiq in 1997, initially operating out of P.E.C.H.S in
Jamshed Town, Karachi, Pakistan
• Entered into the online ”education” business in the year 2000.

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• Has sold over 8 million high school/college diplomas to customers in over 190 countries
• Runs over 4,000 websites, out of which 1,000 are fake school websites
• Total revenues reached the billion dollar mark in 2013-2014
• Target markets are countries in the Gulf Region and the USA.

A Summary of the Investigation on the Degree Mill Operation and Current Updates

Axact, located in Karachi, Pakistan, identifies itself as a leading IT company but is one of the
world’s largest degree mill operations. An article published by the New York Times in May 2015
revealed that Axact earned millions of dollars in sales of fake credentials from over 300 online
“institutions”. Over the past decade, Axact has taken money from approximately 217,000 people
from 197 countries, with about a third of their customers located in the United States of America.
At least $140 million were collected by Axact with US-based bank accounts from thousands of
individuals from about 2006 to around May 2015. After the New York Times article, the Axact
offices in Pakistan were shut down and hundreds of documents were confiscated. Axact’s CEO,
Shoaib Ahmad Shaikh was charged during this time, along other executives, but all were later
acquitted by Pakistan officials in late 2016. Even after the company shut down in May 2015, Axact
Vice-President, Umair Hamid, continued to sell degree mill credentials, particularly to American
customers. Hamid was arrested by the FBI in December 2016 for his role in the Axact operation, and
on April 6, 2017, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud; in August 2017, he was
sentenced to 21 months in prison and ordered to forfeit over $5 million. In Pakistan, one of the
sitting judges who acquitted Axact CEO Shaikh and other officials in 2016 allegedly admitted to
receiving a bribe of over 5 million rupees; this judge may be undergoing disciplinary proceedings,
but there are no further details regarding the proceedings or further investigation into this matter.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s show “Marketplace”

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s show “Marketplace” recently investigated phony

credentials related to Axact, and have found that over 800 Canadians could have purchased a fake
degree from an Axact-based institution. The journalists even successfully purchased PhDs,
transcripts, and attendance records from Almeda University and Gatesville University, both linked to
Axact, proving just how easy it was to obtain fake degrees and transcripts.

The CBC Marketplace investigation also revealed several individuals who possess fake credentials
from institutions tied to Axact including

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 A counsellor named Gilbert Correces with a fake PhD in Biblical counselling from Almeda
University,
 A professor named Dubravko Zgrablic who has taught at four post-secondary institutions in
Ontario who claimed to have a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Almeda
University,
 A business consultant named Erwin Sniedzin who paid $8100 with no course work or exams
to obtain a Master’s degree in Education from Kings Lake University,
 A person named Inayat Kassam acting as a lawyer with a fake law degree from the
University of Renfrew and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Axact-linked institution Ashwood
University.

Most of these individuals have claimed that they weren’t aware that their credentials were fake, or
removed these credentials from their social media profiles after the Marketplace investigation. It is
often difficult to prove intent of such individuals, but many experts do claim that most people are
aware of what they’re purchasing and what it will help them achieve.

Products offered by AXACT:

 Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition of Prior Learning

 Online Education
 Research and Sponsored Development
 The Upsell

This may all sound impressive but in reality….

Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition of Prior Learning

 ”Universities” include Baychester, Brooklyn Park, Glenford, Hansford, Columbiana

 A short interview is conducted by one of the sales persons at a call center, with questions about
work experience etc. After the interview the customer is said to fulfill requirements for the
requested degree.
 Payment options include ”scholarships”, Cash on Delivery and Graduate Now, Pay Later plans.

Online Education

 35% of Axact’s schools

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 Al Arab U, Al Nasr, MUST, Myers Field etc

 Fake schools provide access to virtual classrooms with (stolen) recorded lectures and videos.
Online chat rooms where students are guided through assignments by tutors who never
themselves attended college. The ”school officials” also take care of the final ”examinations”

Research and Sponsored Development

 The fake term paper, theses and custom research sites

 Marketed as ”100% non-plagiarized”
 According to information to former FBI agents, much of the content is stolen and obtained by
buying library Ids and log-in credentials from hundreds of US college libraries from hackers in
Pakistan, China

The upsell

 The Additional Requirements: soon after an individual has purchased a degree, she or he will be
contacted by an agent who advises that the documents need to be ”legalized” to be valid in the
individuals country of origin or domicile, or both,
 The Offer: the customer may also receive a proposal to ”transfer” credits to another, more
”reputable” school, at an additional cost.
 Not accepting may lead to the individual receiving threats that authorities in home country will
be notified, which according to sales agents may lead to termination employment, difficulties in
obtaining loans and visas and even imprisonment.

Company’s response to the allegations

Axact has denied all the allegations. The company accused The New York Times of "baseless,
substandard reporting" as part of a plot by rival news organizations to stop the BOL Network,
which was scheduled to start operations soon. It also threatened several news organizations and
bloggers reporting on the issue with lawsuits.

Initially Shaikh denied any association with the fake educational websites besides selling them
software. Later he said that while Axact did provide office support and call center services to the
websites, it did not itself "issue any degree or diploma, whether fake or real”

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Measures to hide alleged fraud

 When local police began its investigation, Sheikh instructed his employees to "burn company
documents" and destroy other evidence but investigators managed to procure a vast trove of data
revealing that Axact's main business was to provide fake degrees from non-existent online
universities with American-sounding names, the report said.
 In a US court hearing, which came after customers of the online Belford High School sought
damages, "Axact officials persuaded an attendant in the company’s cafeteria to pose as the
founder of the school", the report quoted a police report as saying.
 Shaikh's sister, Chicago resident Uzma Shaheen, was called to testify in the case. Court
documents revealed Shaheen "transferred more than $37 million from American bank
accounts to Axact in Pakistan in recent years".
 According to prosecution documents quoted by the NYT report, at least 32 bank accounts linked
to Axact, holding millions of dollars, exist in various countries. Three banks accounts linked to
Shaikh were frozen in the US lawsuit.

Official investigations

Following the publication of the New York Times article, Pakistan's interior minister Chaudhry
Nisar Ali Khan directed the country's Federal Investigation Agency to begin inquiry into whether the
company was involved in any illegal business. Following the interior minister's order, a cybercrime
team of the FIA raided Axact's offices in Karachi and Islamabad and seized computers, recorded
statements of employees and took into custody 25 employees of the company, and 28 employees
from Rawalpindi office. The FIA team found and seized several blank degrees as well as fake
letterhead of the US State Department. The investigation was transferred from the FIA's cybercrime
department to its corporate department.

The issue was also taken up in the Senate of Pakistan where Chairman of the Senate Raza Rabbani
constituted a committee to probe into the issue. Pakistan's tax authorities and the SECP also initiated
investigations into the company.

New details released on 10 April 2016 in the report state that this scandal is “bigger than initially
imagined."

 Axact CEO Shoaib Shaikh

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He was acquitted of money laundering charges in August 2016 due to lack of evidence. Criminal
charges concerning alleged fake degrees were concluded in 2018. During the investigations,
Pakistan Chief Justice called the scam a national shame. A sessions court in Pakistan on July 5,
2018 convicted Shoaib Sheikh and 22 others in the case and sentenced them to 20 years in prison.
The judge also imposed a fine of Rs1.3 million on each of the convicts.

 Umair Hamid, the Axact's Assistant Vice President of International Relations

In Dec 2016, he was arrested and charged in a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan
with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for his Axact-related
activities Hamid was found guilty in August 2017 and sentenced to 21 months in prison.

The Impact of Fraud and Degree Mills in our Society

Unfortunately, fraudulent documents and degree mill operations are a problem that do not seem
likely to disappear anytime soon. There have been several doctors, educators, lawyers, professionals,
and even ministers of government who have been caught using fake credentials to obtain their
positions, or to work with clients or practice on patients.  Fraudulent documents pose a substantial
risk of harm to society.

 If we are entrusting a doctor to save a life, and he or she has a fake credential, it could cause
serious harm or even death to one individual or more.
 If you have a legitimate Master’s degree in Education and are passed over for a promotion in
favour of someone who obtained a fake Master’s or PhD credential, your hard-earned education
is not being rewarded or recognized.
 The acceptability of forged or fake credentials also signals an unethical message to society – that
you can cheat and fake your way to get what you want.

What could and should be done:

• It’s important to realise that degree mills in general, and Axact in particular are not going
to be gone anytime soon. And even after they’re gone, they will continue to have an impact on
higher education and the labour market for a long time.

• It’s also important to realise that degree mills don’t exist in isolation: they are linked to other
types of crime, in the case of Axact, probably to prostitution rings, drug trade and trafficking.

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• Legislation is badly needed: as mentioned, there is insufficient legislation in Pakistan, but this
holds true also for the USA. In spite of this, the USA is the only country where there still an
ongoing investigation into Axact.

• Directed research and funding is worth considering. Today, individulas with expertise in this
field are few, and ageing and monitoring degree is only one of many duties.

• It is up to credential evaluators, employers, and governments to do their part to prevent

fraudulent documents from entering their systems.
• Those who have not rightfully earned their credentials should not be rewarded.

If we can work together to implement procedures to catch fraudulent credentials and policies that
show serious consequences for committing fraud, perhaps over time we can reduce fraud, or even
prevent it from occurring in the first place

References:

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