Scammers target fake degree holders in UAE

  DUBAI - In an elaborate scam, fraudsters from a Pakistan-based company offering fake degree certificates to people are calling up the same clients to extort money from them, an investigative report revealed. Dubai-based XPRESS revealed that Axact telesales agents are calling up their clients and posing as UAE government officials to demand money from them to "legalise" their certificates. More than 200,000 people in 197 countries, including the UAE, have paid up to Dh100,000 for degree certificates from fake universities, according to XPRESS. The tabloid said that Pakistan IT firm Axact is operating these fake online universities from Karachi. XPRESS named the fake universities as Ashley, Belford, Brooklyn Park, Campbell, Gibson, Grant Town, Midtown, Nixon, Paramount California and Rochville. In the latest scam, Axact agents reportedly demanded thousands of dollars from the same people who bought a degree from them. They use caller ID spoofing so that the recipients see a UAE-based phone number on their phone screen. One of the victims is a South African expat in Dubai who got a call from someone who introduced himself as a Dubai Police officer. The caller demanded $5,000 from him as a "legalisation fee" and threatened action if the expat didn't pay. Initially, when the expat called back the number that showed up on his mobile phone, it was answered by someone at Dubai Police Headquarters, making him believe that the first call was legitimate. However, he later knew about the scheme and ignored the scammer's subsequent calls. Another victim, a medical technologist in Al Ain, paid nearly $70,000 to Axact after an agent posing as a representative from the UAE embassy in the US called her up and told her she would face legal action if she did not pay the amount to cancel the online degrees that she bought. The scammer also told her that the amount would cover accreditation from a university in Sharjah. DAJ/Expat Media
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