By Jose Serrano (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: May 19, 2015 09:30 PM EDT

Hours after the release of an investigation into a Pakistan firm accused of running fake online schools, federal officials detained dozens of employees and seized various documents in a raid of the company's offices on Tuesday.

Pakistani interior minister Chaudhry Nisar ordered the raid after a New York Times report discovered a link between Axact, a software firm in Karachi, and at least 370 websites claiming to offer online degrees for high schools and universities in the United States.

The Federal Investigation Agency found fake degrees, certificates, university letterhead, and verification letters - including one of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry - in searching three separate locations. Around 27 employees were taken into custody by the Islamabad investigative team.

In a statement, the Interior Ministry said investigators would determine whether Axact "is involved in any such illegal work which can tarnish the good image of the country in the world."

Axact mirrored legitimate colleges by created similar-sounding names, like Colombiana, Barkley, and Hillford University. "Students" were lulled in by social media accounts and LinkedIn profiles purported to belong to faculty members, one which was verified as having no affiliation with a reference listed.

The firm hired well-educated Pakistanis who were fluent in English and Arabic to cold-call customers drawn in by the fictitious websites, offering degrees - ranging from high school diplomas to doctorates - for $4,000 and above. They would often pose as corporate recruitment agents with lucrative job offers available only if the customer bought an online course.

Sales calls would not end upon initial payment. Demands for more money led to phone callers impersonating government officials, and subsequent threats of retribution. Some were threatened with deportation if they did not pay the Axact-run website.

"They would threaten customers, telling them that their degrees would be useless if they didn't pay up," said a former sales agent who spoke to the Times on condition of anonymity.

Axact posted a response to initial allegations on Monday, calling the report "baseless, substandard, maligning and defamatory." A video circulating on social media showed company founder Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh addressing cheering employees on Monday evening.

In the video, Shaikh references several points first made in the firm's official response and accuses the Times of colluding with rival Express Tribune group.

Shaikh was not named as a defendant in the one and only time Axact faced a lawsuit. In 2009, a Michigan woman sued two websites after her diplomas from Belford High School and Belford University proved useless.

Because Axact could not be directly linked to the sites, a Pakistani man named Salem Kureshi claimed ownership instead of Shaikh. He never stepped foot on American soil and only made video appearances from a dimly lit room in Karachi.

Kureshi has not paid any of the $22.7 million owed in a class-action lawsuit against the websites.

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