London: Thousands of UK nationals have bought fake degrees from a multi-million pound “diploma mill” in Pakistan, a BBC Radio 4’s File on Four programme investigation has found, reports BBC.

Buyers include NHS consultants, nurses and a large defence contractor.

One British buyer spent almost £500,000 on bogus documents. The Department for Education said it was taking “decisive action to crack down on degree fraud” that “cheats genuine learners”.

Axact, which claims to be the “world’s largest IT company”, operates a network of hundreds of fake online universities run by agents from a Karachi call centre. With names such as Brooklyn Park University and Nixon University, they feature stock images of smiling students and even fake news articles singing the institution’s praises.

According to documents seen by BBC Radio 4’s File on Four programme, more than 3,000 fake Axact qualifications were sold to UK-based buyers in 2013 and 2014, including master’s degrees, doctorates and PhDs.