A software company is accused of making millions by selling diplomas for fake universities with names like 'Columbiana'
A company called Axact - which describes itself as Pakistan's largest software exporter - makes tens of millions of dollars a year by selling bogus high school, college, and doctoral degrees, The New York Times wrote on Sunday.
The company's strategy is one of smoke and mirrors, according to the The Times. Its 370 websites include news stories with accolades of the strength of their program and fake actors who pose as college professors, The Times reports.
None of the schools is truly accredited, though they do have names like Columbiana that sound like Ivy League institutions, The Times reports.
The Times article even includes a certificate with an apparently forged signature from Secretary of State John Kerry, which is just one of techniques Axact reportedly utilizes to provide credibility to the program. But the diplomas, which can cost about $350 for high school degrees, and $4,000 or more for doctoral degrees, are reportedly worthless upon closer inspection.
Axact reacted to the story in the New York Times with an excoriating post on its website, vehemently denying the claims, and calling it defamatory, baseless, and "merely a figment of imagination."
The company also individually lashed out at the reporter of the story, Declan Walsh, calling the story an "exemplary display of poor journalistic skills and yellow journalism." The company also implied that Walsh was not an objective person to write about Pakistan due to a prior instance where he was expelled from the country for supposedly damaging its national interests.
While Pakistan's Interior Ministry ordered the expulsion of Walsh in 2013, it offered only vague indication for the reason behind the decision.
"It is informed that your visa is hereby canceled in view of your undesirable activities," the order stated. "You are therefore advised to leave the country within 72 hours."
Advocates for free press were disturbed by the move and said that it reinforced the Pakistan's reputation as unwelcoming for journalists, according to a 2013 article in the Times.
We reached out to Axact to give it a chance to provide additional comment on the article. A spokesperson for the Times said, "We are confident in our reporting and see nothing in the response that would prompt a correction."