A brilliant young woman from Islamabad has died in what authorities suspect was suicide after discovering she had been defrauded of millions of rupees by a fake education consultant who promised her admission to Harvard University.
Laiba Ijaz, a gold medalist graduate from the International Islamic University Islamabad, was found dead in the capital’s G-10 sector on Saturday. Police say she had been devastated after learning that all the admission documents provided by an agent were completely fraudulent.
The tragedy has sent shockwaves across Pakistan, exposing the dark underbelly of education consultancy scams that prey on families desperate to secure foreign degrees for their children.
According to her family, Laiba had dreamed of pursuing higher education in the United States after completing her bachelor’s degree with top honors. An immigration consultant approached the family and demanded seven million rupees to secure her admission to a prestigious American university.
Her father, who makes a modest living selling milk on a motorcycle and lives with his family in a rented apartment, sold the only plot of land he owned. He managed to raise 2.1 million rupees in cash and handed it over to the agent. To arrange the remaining amount, Laiba’s mother deposited her jewelry with a bank as collateral.
Laiba had planned to surprise her family on October 12 with the news of her Harvard admission. But two days before that date, she decided to verify the university registration certificate she had received. That’s when she discovered the devastating truth—every document was fake.
In her final message to her maternal uncle, she wrote: “Do not tell my father about the fraud committed against me. He will die.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken notice of the incident and ordered the immediate arrest of the suspect. He described the case as extremely tragic and vowed that the accused would face exemplary punishment under the law.
The Federal Investigation Agency has launched an inquiry into the matter. FIA Director Shehzad Nadeem Bukhari revealed that the suspect allegedly defrauded Laiba of 7.2 million rupees and also took an additional 500,000 rupees from her brother by promising him a job. The fraudster reportedly posed as a Supreme Court employee or a government officer to gain the family’s trust.
Interior Minister of State Talal Chaudhry confirmed that the FIA director general is personally overseeing the case and has met with the victim’s parents. Authorities have vowed to bring all those involved to justice.
Police are still awaiting the post-mortem report to confirm the exact cause of death, though investigators are treating the case as a suspected suicide linked to the fraud.
The incident has reignited concerns about unregulated education consultants operating across Pakistan, many of whom exploit families’ aspirations for foreign education with false promises and forged documents.
