Axact’s immensely profitable empire is centered on its network of hundreds of websites. The stars are the sites for fictitious high schools and universities — some have names and details evoking the appearance of American or British schools, others of Persian Gulf-region institutions.
Critical support for the scheme comes from a host of dedicated Internet search portals, and a smaller list of dummy accreditation bodies meant to put potential customers at ease by giving Axact’s fake schools a more credible appearance.
Below is a partial list of sites analyzed by The New York Times and determined most likely to be linked to Axact’s operation in Karachi, Pakistan. Some of the details came from interviews with former employees of Axact, who identified roughly 50 sites, along with servers used by the company and blocks of custom website coding it developed.
School Sites
High School Diploma Experience
High School Diploma Professionals
Global Institute of English Language Training and Certification
Al Khalifa American University
Online University Programs Pro
Paramount California University
Western Advanced Central University
Western Valley Central University
Accreditation Bodies
Accreditation Bureau of Online Education and Training
Association for Accreditation of Business Schools and Programs
European Accreditation Board for Online Education
European Accreditation Council for Online Learning
Global Accreditation Board for Distance Learning
Gulf Bureau of Higher Education
International Accreditation Board for Business Studies
International Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Education
Education International Accreditation Board for Psychology Education
Education International Accreditation Council for Open Education
International Accreditation Organization
International Business Accreditation and Regulatory Commission