The New York Times in a report published on May 17 did a thorough postmortem of the business activities of the self proclaimed ‘World’s Largest Information Technology Company’ Axact, the Pakistan based company behind the upcoming news channel BOL. Detailing the illegal activities of the software house which has its headquarter in Karachi the report said that the software house actually sells fake degrees and diploma’s through its network of 370 planted websites and has so far deprived customers of millions of dollars by coaxing them into believing that they will get a ‘real degree. Axact has gained a notorious reputation in Pakistan because of its bullying tactics and is known to send legal notices to anyone who speaks about the company. In a rather funny incident, a person was served a legal notice for ‘not knowing about the activities of the software house’. The company had managed to stifle allegations of running the diploma mill for some time but was brazenly exposed by the New York Times article. The illegal activities of the company have brought shame not just to the company but also Pakistan. The country’s information technology industry that relies heavily on exports will also be hurt after Axact was exposed for running this massive fraud.
It is also a worrying sign for the media industry in Pakistan and the journalist community. Bol had hired the services of numerous well known journalists in the country and the revelations regarding the company has put a question mark on the integrity of the journalists who were quite shockingly unaware of their employers. Despite claims by Axact that it wasn’t behind the rogue operation, technological experts have managed to trace all the allegedly fake sites to Axact through various techniques.
