Man spends Dh250,000 on fake degree | GulfNews.com
Dubai: An Emirati, who unknowingly paid a quarter of a million dirhams for a fake online degree, has urged authorities to take action.
A.H, who requested not to reveal his full name, found out that his Dh250,000 online degree was fake after the scandal of Pakistani IT Company, Axact, surfaced in the news in May.
The company was exposed for allegedly operating hundreds of fake online universities from its headquarters in Pakistan, making hundreds of millions of dollars online selling fake degrees to people around the world.
Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) raided the company’s headquarters in Karachi and arrested Shoaib Shaikh, CEO and owner of Axact.
Gulf News interviewed Yasir Jamshaid, the whistle-blower who exposed Axact’s entire operation, and he said these universities particularly targeted GCC residents, many of whom were from the UAE.
After the scandal surfaced, the victim of the scam A.H. said all the professors and recruiters of the university stopped answering his calls.
“The university seemed so legitimate; they even sent me a graduation gown and cap and told me they will be having a graduation ceremony in Atlantis, Dubai! I want to share my story so that other residents from here don’t make the same mistake.”
A.H. applied for a PhD at Grant Town University and Brooklyn Park University after an ad appeared on his Facebook page. He visited the website and contacted the ‘professors’, who said he can gain his degree solely on his past experience.
“They are targeting the UAE specifically by featuring testaments of Arab students and carrying logos of the UAE Ministry of Higher Education and Expo 2020. The alleged professors I spoke to were also very knowledgeable about the UAE’s higher education system and knew I had to provide the ministry with an equivalency,” he said.
The cost of each degree was around $4,500 (Dh16,515). However A.H.’s bill slowly accumulated to Dh250,000 after the universities kept on asking for additional fees for attestation and other services over a period of two years.
“I kept on paying them and I did not doubt them because the couriers, invoices and calls all came from the US numbers. They told me that I would receive a degree based on my experience because it was a part time American programme,” he said.
A.H. said the university used to withdraw money from his credit card but later asked him to make the payments through Western Union by giving the money to a man called Waleed in Kuwait.
A.H. said he contacted Waleed after finding out about the scandal and Waleed said he no longer works with the university.
University of Atlanta
“Towards the end, they told me that they will be transferring all my credits to the University of Atlanta. They said the university has offices in Emirates Towers’ 41st floor and they will be organising a graduation ceremony at Atlantis.”
Gulf News contacted Emirates Towers offices who said they don’t have any office under the university’s name.
A.H. said the university also took part in the Gulf Education & Training Exhibition (Getex) in Dubai and has pictures of the event, showing a prominent Emirati figure at their stand in the exhibition. They would boast about having the prominent figure at their stand to convince A.H. that the university was a credible one.
“After two years, I finally got my degree, which arrived from a USA courier only to find out that it was fake. The UAE authority needs to act on this because they are targeting Arabs, especially those in the UAE.”
He said the degree he received had the stamp of the UAE embassy in Australia.
A.H. called on authorities to act, believing that these universities are not only stealing money from people but also taking their personal information as they ask for passport copies, which can be used in a wrong way.
The Axact firm also has an office in Dubai, Axact FZ –LLC in Media City, which
Gulf News visited and found to be still registered.
Documents obtained by
Gulf News show that of the 600,000 Axact shares, one is held by Shoaib Shaikh and another by his wife, Ayesha, while the remaining 599,998 shares are owned by Axact FZ LLC in Dubai.
Fake degree victim in Abu Dhabi speaks up | GulfNews.com
Charade was so convincing I did not suspect a thing, says woman
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BY ANJANA SANKAR, SENIOR REPORTER
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Abu Dhabi: The recent XPRESS exposes on AXACT’s fake degree racket have prompted a young victim in Abu Dhabi to come forward with her own horror story.
Former flight attendant Diana, 26, from Ukraine described how she fell into an online degree trap and ended up spending $12,500 (Dh45,750) on bogus degrees from a non-existent Orlando University.
“After quitting my airline job in 2013, I was looking for a new opening. That’s when I got a call from a recruitment firm. The caller suggested I enrol for an online degree to make my CV look good. He said he would help me get in touch with the right university,” Diana recalled.
“Within two weeks, a man claiming to be a representative of Orlando University rang me up and urged me to take a Prior Learning Assessment over the phone. After the 45-minute test I was told I was eligible for a degree. I paid $1,500 online, and they couriered me an attested bachelors degree in international business within a week. It was accompanied by a validating certificate signed by US secretary of state John Kerry,” she said.
Diana was then urged to go for a two-year masters programme from the same university.
“The asking fee was $11,000 which was beyond my means. So I took bank loans to pay them. They made it look so credible, I never suspected a thing. I got a student ID and the purported US-based university sent me the course material. A man who identified himself as Randy Wolf even became my counsellor. He used to call me to enquire about my progress. I studied hard, often staying up till late night to submit my assignments online,” she said.
Diana didn’t realise she was being cheated until she was asked to fork out another Dh9,000 to get her degree attested from the ‘Middle Eastern Accreditation Council.’ “The Dh9,000 demand was unexpected. Sensing foul play, I started asking them questions. After a heated telephonic exchange with Randy Wolf and some online chats, they cut me off. The university just disappeared and even my online ID stopped working.” (Name changed, face blurred on request)
Authorities crack whip on degree fraudsters
Days after a two-part XPRESS exposé on fake degrees, the UAE authorities have warned of strict action against people who buy or sell bogus academic certificates.
At a press conference in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research said a law is being drafted to punish those caught faking degrees.
The ministry also urged government departments and private companies to check the degrees of their employees for authenticity.
A June 11 XPRESS report citing AXACT whistleblower Yasir Jamshaid said over 200,000 people in the region have bought fake degrees from the dubious Pakistani IT firm.
A large number of these people are from the UAE, with many working in top positions such as vice presidents and CEOs. XPRESS first exposed the fake degree racket in June 2014.