Owner of IT firm involved in fake degrees scam arrested

The owner and six officials of a Pakistani IT firm were on Wednesday arrested for allegedly issuing fake degrees to its clients across the world and making millions of dollars through an elaborate network of fictitious universities.

Shoaib Ahmad Shaikh, also the chief executive officer (CEO) of <g data-gr-id="21">Axact</g>, was taken into custody by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials from his Karachi office.

Local TV channels showed Shaikh being held by two officials and taken away in a white vehicle. The FIA team was led by director Shahid Hayat.

Hayat told reporters that several cases have been registered against Shaikh and his employees for illegal and criminal activities.

He and seven other directors of the company were produced before a court which handed them over to the FIA for a physical remand till June 7.

The scandal came to light after the New York Times in a major story alleged that <g data-gr-id="19">Axact</g> was running 370 websites and issuing fake degrees to people from Gulf to the US.

According to the report, <g data-gr-id="22">Axact</g> has 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.