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posted by janrinok on Friday May 29 2015, @12:45AM   Printer-friendly
from the where-did-he-learn-to-do-that? dept.

Ten days after the International New York Times published Fake Diplomas, Real Cash: Pakistani Company Axact Reaps Millions, The BBC reports that Axact's CEO, Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh and four other executives have been arrested. According to today's NY Times article, "'[they] were initially charged with fraud, forgery and illegal electronic money transfers', law enforcement officials said. The charges were later expanded to include money laundering and violating Pakistan's electronic crimes act."

Axact CEO Shaikh had initially denied the charges, but after hours of questioning he led investigators to a building next to Axact's headquarters. "Inside they found a room filled with blank certificates bearing the letterheads of dozens of fake universities and high schools operated by Axact under names like Bay View, Cambell State, Oxdell and Nixon." Apparently this has been bringing several millions of dollars a month of revenue into Axact, a company that has claimed until now to be Pakistan's largest software export company.

Axact was also on the cusp of launching a new media giant, Bol. Bol has hired several leading journalists at three to four times normal salaries. According to the linked BBC article, there is some speculation that the Axact scandal gained additional traction at this moment due to rival networks wanting to stop Bol from providing competition.


[Editor's Comment: Original Submission]

 
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @02:35AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @02:35AM (#189452)

    This is just a reaction to the overwhelming stupidity of so many employers requiring degrees for jobs that do not need degrees.

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by GungnirSniper on Friday May 29 2015, @03:04AM

    by GungnirSniper (1671) on Friday May 29 2015, @03:04AM (#189462) Journal

    This is just a reaction to the overwhelming stupidity of so many employers requiring degrees for jobs that do not need degrees.

    Right on AC. We see this often in technology, where the clueless HR bunnies effectively gatekeep non-degree applicants from even getting to the hiring manager because they don't meet qualifications. Meanwhile upper management is insisting on 'requiring' it in the job posting because the bean-counters won't give adequate budget to get a qualified person hired but for such tomfoolery.

    I'd really like to cut HR out of my next hiring process. Let me see all the applicants, and let me handle the screening. After all, I'm the one who has to live with the pick, not some shut-in-her-office, no-metric-goals-to-meet paper pusher.

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by PartTimeZombie on Friday May 29 2015, @03:39AM

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Friday May 29 2015, @03:39AM (#189476)

      That's exactly what my old boss did.
      He did the whole hiring thing without even informing HR he was doing it, hired me, then told them.
      They insisted on interviewing me, even though I'd signed up already. It was quite an amusing interview really, the HR person had no clue why she was there and neither did I.

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by khchung on Friday May 29 2015, @05:22AM

        by khchung (457) on Friday May 29 2015, @05:22AM (#189510)

        The interview was there to justify HR's existence. The HR person was really stupid if he (or she) didn't realize that, if he did then he would have conducted the interview as if you weren't already hired, and documented it properly.

        If HR let it slip that people can be hired without going through them, they would be the next in line to be "let go".

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @11:16PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @11:16PM (#189891)

      the clueless HR bunnies effectively gatekeep non-degree applicants from even getting to the hiring manager because they don't meet qualifications.

      I've been dealing with exactly this situation over the past few months. There's an IT support contract for the local military bases. Bases which, incidentally, I used to work at, as a military officer. In the past 9 months they've hired 5 people I know personally, 4 who just crammed for Sec+ and 1 who already had A+ and got hired without Sec+, and at a higher pay rate too. That guy (with the A+) told me "Dude half the people who work here are idiots, you'll have no problems doing this job. It's easy money."

      They had 3 jobs open in March: CyberSec, Network Ops, IT Specialist. I get told that I don't qualify for the CyberSec or Network Ops jobs because of insufficient certs/experience. I explain that I'm familiar with doing penetration testing using Kali Linux....I'm pretty sure she didn't understand what that meant. I'm finishing up a Masters Degree in Information Engineering, and have written GP-GPU algorithms in CUDA C.....These positions don't even require a Bachelors. I'm confident I can fix any "My Outlook isn't working" problems that come across my desk. She tells me to re-write my resume to demonstrate "5 years of computer experience". So I re-write it to explicitly state that I've touched a computer in a professional capacity for 5+ years. Fill out a bunch of application documents, etc....

      Three weeks go by....I prod her for an update....
      HR Bunny: "Oh hey, the hiring manager was on vacation. Apparently the CyberSec and Network Ops jobs are closed. Do you still want the (much lower paying) IT Spec job?"
      Me: "*grumbles*......sure"
      Bunny: "Ok I submitted you."
      So all those documents you made me fill out in early April were, what, just sitting in your inbox this whole time? So when I submitted my resume a month ago, the first applicant on the site on the VERY SAME DAY the job was posted, that shit hasn't been seen by anyone who actually matters? Just you, the worthless gatekeeper?

      That was a month ago....Fast forward to last week.
      HR Bunny: "Hey apparently the entry-level IT job now requires CCNA. I'll let you know when something opens up that you are qualified for."

      WTF?!!!! The people who are currently working at this place don't have CCNA, and some barely have Sec+. I called my A+ friend to vent. "Dude, that's ridiculous. CCNA? Nobody with CCNA, Sec+, and a Secret clearance would ever apply for this job at the pay they are offering."

      At this point I'm so frustrated with this process that I'd rather become a used car/parts exporter than to get involved with "IT".

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @05:37AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @05:37AM (#189519)

    This is just a reaction to the overwhelming stupidity of so many employers requiring degrees for jobs that do not need degrees.

    There are no jobs that do not require degrees. A degree shows that you are a free person, a Freiherr, a Liberal! Someone who can think for theirself, and not have to be told what to do down to the smallest micro-movements, like a slave or employee (See Foucault on this, in Discipline and Punish). Unless, of course, being a conservative market-obsessed libertarian, you realize that it is not the ability that gets you the job, but the credential! So all you have to do is sell the credentials! By the time they figure out that they have hired imbeciles, you and your diploma mill will be long gone! Wow, it is almost like a gypsy autobody repair scam. Or Wall Street. Bad credentials drive out good, just like bad currency drives out good. This is what capitalism does for us, in its last throes.