Axact degree mill scam INVOLVES Axact
The degree-mill scam involved Axact as the company operating the scheme.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Fazal EP 142 Details
“Axact created from thin air. There was no real university.”
Organisation
organisation:axact
Pakistani company presented as operating call centers and a large-scale fake-university and credential fraud business.
Pakistani company presented as operating call centers and a large-scale fake-university and credential fraud business.
“But we saw this other company had a whole bunch of openings for call center employees, Axact.”
“Axact was growing leaps and bounds, and they were setting up hundreds of sites.”
| Direction | Predicate | Other entity | Origin | EP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| outgoing | DEVELOPED_BY | Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh | Explicit | 142 |
| outgoing | USES | social engineering | Explicit | 142 |
| outgoing | USES | credential reuse | Explicit | 142 |
| outgoing | USES | User activity tracking | Explicit | 142 |
| outgoing | USES | Resume scraping | Explicit | 142 |
| outgoing | USES | extortion | Explicit | 142 |
| outgoing | USES | Money mule | Explicit | 142 |
| outgoing | USES | Offshore money movement | Explicit | 142 |
| outgoing | USES | Google Ads | Explicit | 142 |
| outgoing | USES | Search-engine optimization | Explicit | 142 |
| outgoing | USES | Bay Town University | Explicit | 142 |
| outgoing | USES | Bol | Explicit | 142 |
| outgoing | ASSOCIATED_WITH | Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority | Uncertain | 142 |
| incoming | INVOLVES | Axact degree mill scam | Explicit | 142 |
| incoming | DEVELOPED_BY | Baytownuniversity.com | Explicit | 142 |
| incoming | DEVELOPED_BY | Newford University | Explicit | 142 |
| incoming | DEVELOPED_BY | Drewmont University | Explicit | 142 |
| incoming | MEMBER_OF | Umair Hamid | Explicit | 142 |
Axact degree mill scam INVOLVES Axact
The degree-mill scam involved Axact as the company operating the scheme.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Fazal EP 142 Details
“Axact created from thin air. There was no real university.”
Axact DEVELOPED_BY Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh
Jack says Axact was founded by Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 142 Details
“Axact was found by a guy named Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh.”
Axact USES social engineering
Axact employees used persuasive and deceptive interactions to sell fake degrees and additional services.
Explicit Confidence 96% · Fazal EP 142 Details
“We’d then research that person, look for their social media profiles, try to find out their goals and ambitions, get to know them, then e-mail or call them”
Axact USES credential reuse
Axact employees tried users’ clear-text passwords on Facebook, LinkedIn, and email accounts to exploit password reuse.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 142 Details
“Axact employees could see the users’ passwords and try using those passwords on their social media accounts”
Axact USES User activity tracking
The fake school website tracked users’ interactions so agents could see clicking and hovering behavior.
Explicit Confidence 95% · Fazal EP 142 Details
“The website had some kind of tracker on the user”
Axact USES Resume scraping
Axact’s marketing team collected resumes posted on Monster.com and Indeed.com to identify potential students.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Fazal EP 142 Details
“the marketing team would pick that resume up and look at it”
Employees threatened victims with disclosure of photographs showing them with fake degrees.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Fazal EP 142 Details
“Pay me $8,000 or I’ll show this photo to your boss.”
Axact USES Money mule
Axact sometimes recruited scam victims to route web payments through their accounts while keeping a portion.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Fazal EP 142 Details
“set up a deal with that person to funnel the money through them”
Axact USES Offshore money movement
Money was routed through different accounts and often ended up in companies in Cyprus or Latvia.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Fazal EP 142 Details
“The money would get funneled through different accounts and would often end up in the account of a company in Cyprus or Latvia.”
Axact USES Google Ads
Axact’s marketing team spent heavily on Google Ads to attract prospective students.
Explicit Confidence 98% · Jack Rhysider EP 142 Details
“They would spend a lot of money on Google ads”
Axact USES Search-engine optimization
Axact used SEO campaigns to increase the visibility of its fake schools.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 142 Details
“running SEO campaigns to get their school ranked higher in the search results”
Baytownuniversity.com DEVELOPED_BY Axact
The Bay Town University website was created by an Axact team, according to Fazal’s account.
Explicit Confidence 98% · Fazal EP 142 Details
“This was something that Axact created from thin air.”
Newford University DEVELOPED_BY Axact
Newford University is described as a fake university created by Axact.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Fazal EP 142 Details
“Newford University, a fake university created by Axact.”
Drewmont University DEVELOPED_BY Axact
Drewmont University is described as a fake university created by Axact.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 142 Details
“Drewmont University, a fake university created by Axact.”
Axact USES Bay Town University
Axact used Bay Town University as one of its fake university operations.
Explicit Confidence 97% · Fazal EP 142 Details
“There was no real university. There was no learning, no classes, nothing.”
Shoaib Shaikh founded and controlled the Bol television network while running Axact.
Explicit Confidence 98% · Jack Rhysider EP 142 Details
“Shoaib not only started Axact but also started a TV network called Bol”
Umair Hamid MEMBER_OF Axact
Umair Hamid was the vice president of Axact.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 142 Details
“He was the vice president of Axact”
Axact ASSOCIATED_WITH Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority
PEMRA revoked or affected Bol’s broadcasting license after Shoaib’s legal troubles; the exact conditions are unclear in the episode.
Uncertain Confidence 86% · Jack Rhysider EP 142 Details
“the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority revoked the broadcasting license that Bol had”