General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNYT: Pakistani media mogul behind 'breathtaking scam' of fake online schools
Source: New York Times
Seen from the Internet, it is a vast education empire: hundreds of universities and high schools, with elegant names and smiling professors at sun-dappled American campuses.
Their websites, glossy and assured, offer online degrees in dozens of disciplines, like nursing and civil engineering. There are glowing endorsements on the CNN iReport website, enthusiastic video testimonials, and State Department authentication certificates bearing the signature of Secretary of State John Kerry.
... Yet on closer examination, this picture shimmers like a mirage. The news reports are fabricated. The professors are paid actors. The university campuses exist only as stock photos on computer servers. The degrees have no true accreditation. In fact, very little in this virtual academic realm, appearing to span at least 370 websites, is real except for the tens of millions of dollars in estimated revenue it gleans each year from many thousands of people around the world, all paid to a secretive Pakistani software company.
... Axacts founder and chief executive, Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh ... is working to become Pakistans most influential media mogul. For almost two years now, Axact has been building a broadcast studio and aggressively recruiting prominent journalists for Bol, a television and newspaper group scheduled to start this year.
... Hands down, this is probably the largest operation weve ever seen, said Allen Ezell, a retired F.B.I. agent and author of a book on diploma mills who has been investigating Axact. Its a breathtaking scam.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/18/world/asia/fake-diplomas-real-cash-pakistani-company-axact-reaps-millions-columbiana-barkley.html
okaawhatever
(9,461 posts)SoapBox
(18,791 posts)Repuke wanna be.
Rotten and crooked to the core.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,311 posts)It lends a fake air of legitimacy to have 'CNN' and 'report' close to each other. "Anonymous claim hosted on a CNN server" wouldn't have the same ring to it.