Belford University

This is an accepted version of this page Belford University was an organization that offered online unaccredited degrees for "life experience".

[1] Along with many similar websites, it was owned by the Karachi-based company Axact, the main business of which, according to an investigation by The New York Times, is "to take the centuries-old scam of selling fake academic degrees and turn it into an Internet-era scheme on a global scale".

[2] In July 2018, Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh, the CEO of Axact was arrested and sentenced to prison for 20 years for his role in perpetuating this scam.

[10] Jurisdictions that have restricted or prohibited the use of credentials from unaccredited schools include South Korea[11] and the US states of Oregon,[12][13] Michigan,[14] Maine,[15] North Dakota,[13] New Jersey,[13] Washington,[12][16] Nevada,[12][17] Illinois,[12] Indiana[12] and Texas.

[21] A 2005 investigative report on WHEC-TV in Rochester, New York, characterized Belford as "just one of hundreds of diploma mills easily accessible online".

"[1] Furthermore, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has indicated that Belford, Rochville University, as well as the agencies from which they claim accreditation, "appear to be operated by the same people".

[1] In a 2007 article, a Yale Daily News journalist reported that he had applied for a doctorate with what he described as a brief paltry life experience justification, and was approved for his requested degree 12 hours later.