Fake Diplomas: Too Good to Be True

An example of a fake diploma issued by one of Axact's
fictitious schools, Grant Town University.

Earning a diploma for high school, college, and especially for a doctoral program requires a lot of work and a lot of time. You can’t just buy a diploma—or can you? A recent New York Times article discusses some allegations made against Axact, a Pakistani software company. Former employees of Axact and complaints from victims throughout the world accuse Axact of operating a massive diploma mill scheme by secretly operating websites for over 370 fictitious high schools, colleges, and universities which lure people in by promising them a good education and diplomas from accredited schools. The websites all look professional and appear to be from a real university. There are even phone numbers to call and people waiting to answer questions through online chat sessions. Several of the fictitious universities even have similar names to respected universities (i.e., Barkley, Columbiana, Grant Town), and the bank accounts for all of these schools funnel back to Axact, according to The New York Times.

What does LiveStrong and Three Cups of Tea have in Common?

A more direct question might be whether Lance Armstrong's charitable foundation, LiveStrong, is managed like Greg Mortenson, author of "Three Cups of Tea" is managing his charity, The Central Asia Institute (CAI). Mortenson became famous and influential when he published his inspiring stories about how he came to dedicate his life to helping educate women in Afghanistan and Pakistan in "Three Cups of Tea" and its sequel, "Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan." However, yesterday Mortenson was accused of committing fraud to create his initial success and lying about how he has used donations given to his charity to help educate the poor in these countries. According to a 60 Minutes report, Mortenson has been using his charity as a tool for self promotion and dipping into the piggy bank. In addition...