- By Kristian Johnson
- BBC Information
Picture supply, Getty Pictures
Social media scammers are charging pupils lots of of kilos for what they declare are leaked GCSE and A-level examination papers, however are prone to be fakes.
A GCSE pupil, who was quoted £500 for a paper by somebody on Instagram, mentioned the concept papers could be on the market was “essentially the most talked about hype” of examination season.
This can be very uncommon for real papers to be leaked, examination boards mentioned.
However they added the scams have been changing into extra frequent, with fraudsters charging between £7.50 and £4,000 per paper.
Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat mentioned fraudulent exercise was in opposition to their guidelines and anybody who noticed such accounts ought to report them.
Examination regulator Ofqual warned any college students caught dishonest may very well be banned from taking their exams.
‘Ridiculous costs’
Jade, not her actual title, spoke to BBC Information on situation of anonymity.
The 15-year-old first noticed accounts claiming to promote GCSE examination papers on TikTok.
In a dialog with one of many accounts, she was then instructed to contact the vendor on Instagram.
One GCSE pupil was quoted £500 by a scammer claiming to promote GCSE exams
“I used to be greatly surprised as a result of it was ridiculous costs,” Jade mentioned.
“Anyplace north of £500 for a paper was the standard provide from a number of accounts for one examination paper.”
Jade didn’t purchase the examination paper however mentioned she is aware of college students who’ve paid as much as £900.
One other pupil instructed BBC Information that they had paid a social media account £60 final yr for a GCSE maths examination.
However they have been left feeling “damage and irritated” when the account blocked them and did not ship something.
“The individuals who purchase from these accounts are your most determined college students,” she mentioned.
“These accounts are literally very intelligent and sneaky in what they do – preying on this vulnerability.
“You would not meet a single pupil throughout this entire yr that has not heard of those accounts. They’re in all places.”
BBC Information posed as a GCSE pupil and contacted two separate Instagram accounts claiming to promote examination papers.
Picture supply, BBC/Instagram
An Instagram account quoted BBC Information £150 for one examination paper
One quoted a worth of £120 for an AQA geography paper and £150 for an English language paper. One other account additionally quoted £150 for a single examination paper.
Each accounts requested to be paid by means of the fee app, Money App.
However our £150 transaction was blocked by Money App on a number of events – so the scammer requested to be paid with a present card for a Excessive Avenue retailer.
After paying the agreed payment, our messages have been ignored and no paper was despatched to us. The scammer’s social media account was then deleted earlier than BBC Information had the possibility to report it to Instagram.
A spokesperson for Meta, the corporate that owns Instagram, mentioned the sale of future examination papers or reply sheets was not allowed and any such content material can be faraway from the platform.
AQA case analyst Invoice Hewison mentioned many used doctored photos of earlier exams, altering the date and textual content on the entrance cowl to attempt to dupe college students.
“Just a few weeks in the past, we noticed an account claiming to promote one in all our exams for £7.50,” he mentioned.
“Proper on the different finish of the dimensions, you’ve got bought hundreds of kilos [being quoted] – two, three, 4 thousand kilos.”
BBC Information was granted unique entry by examination board AQA, to see how its malpractice groups attempt to shut down the fraudulent accounts.
They have no idea who’s behind the accounts, however they’ve scoured social media for anybody claiming to promote papers to college students, earlier than and through examination season.
Examination boards don’t have any energy to close the accounts down so as an alternative, they report them to social media platforms – usually citing copyright as a approach to escalate the criticism.
A spokesperson for TikTok mentioned any accounts “selling fraud or scams” are eliminated, whereas Snapchat mentioned customers ought to report suspicious exercise in order that motion could be taken.
However professional leaks are uncommon – and fraudulent accounts on social media are a rising downside.
“If we do a search on Tuesday, we’ll see 5 accounts. If we do the identical search on Wednesday, we’ll see 10 accounts,” Mr Hewison mentioned.
“When you get one, they will simply create one other account.”
Joint Council for {Qualifications} chief government Margaret Farragher mentioned it was like “digital whack-a-mole”.
“As quickly as they attempt to shut down one in all these pretend accounts, one other one opens up,” she added.
Ofqual chief regulator Jo Saxton instructed college students to not depend on “fraudsters on the web” forward of their exams.
“You threat not solely shedding cash however the penalties for you’re actually severe,” she mentioned.
- By Kristian Johnson
- BBC Information
Picture supply, Getty Pictures
Social media scammers are charging pupils lots of of kilos for what they declare are leaked GCSE and A-level examination papers, however are prone to be fakes.
A GCSE pupil, who was quoted £500 for a paper by somebody on Instagram, mentioned the concept papers could be on the market was “essentially the most talked about hype” of examination season.
This can be very uncommon for real papers to be leaked, examination boards mentioned.
However they added the scams have been changing into extra frequent, with fraudsters charging between £7.50 and £4,000 per paper.
Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat mentioned fraudulent exercise was in opposition to their guidelines and anybody who noticed such accounts ought to report them.
Examination regulator Ofqual warned any college students caught dishonest may very well be banned from taking their exams.
‘Ridiculous costs’
Jade, not her actual title, spoke to BBC Information on situation of anonymity.
The 15-year-old first noticed accounts claiming to promote GCSE examination papers on TikTok.
In a dialog with one of many accounts, she was then instructed to contact the vendor on Instagram.
One GCSE pupil was quoted £500 by a scammer claiming to promote GCSE exams
“I used to be greatly surprised as a result of it was ridiculous costs,” Jade mentioned.
“Anyplace north of £500 for a paper was the standard provide from a number of accounts for one examination paper.”
Jade didn’t purchase the examination paper however mentioned she is aware of college students who’ve paid as much as £900.
One other pupil instructed BBC Information that they had paid a social media account £60 final yr for a GCSE maths examination.
However they have been left feeling “damage and irritated” when the account blocked them and did not ship something.
“The individuals who purchase from these accounts are your most determined college students,” she mentioned.
“These accounts are literally very intelligent and sneaky in what they do – preying on this vulnerability.
“You would not meet a single pupil throughout this entire yr that has not heard of those accounts. They’re in all places.”
BBC Information posed as a GCSE pupil and contacted two separate Instagram accounts claiming to promote examination papers.
Picture supply, BBC/Instagram
An Instagram account quoted BBC Information £150 for one examination paper
One quoted a worth of £120 for an AQA geography paper and £150 for an English language paper. One other account additionally quoted £150 for a single examination paper.
Each accounts requested to be paid by means of the fee app, Money App.
However our £150 transaction was blocked by Money App on a number of events – so the scammer requested to be paid with a present card for a Excessive Avenue retailer.
After paying the agreed payment, our messages have been ignored and no paper was despatched to us. The scammer’s social media account was then deleted earlier than BBC Information had the possibility to report it to Instagram.
A spokesperson for Meta, the corporate that owns Instagram, mentioned the sale of future examination papers or reply sheets was not allowed and any such content material can be faraway from the platform.
AQA case analyst Invoice Hewison mentioned many used doctored photos of earlier exams, altering the date and textual content on the entrance cowl to attempt to dupe college students.
“Just a few weeks in the past, we noticed an account claiming to promote one in all our exams for £7.50,” he mentioned.
“Proper on the different finish of the dimensions, you’ve got bought hundreds of kilos [being quoted] – two, three, 4 thousand kilos.”
BBC Information was granted unique entry by examination board AQA, to see how its malpractice groups attempt to shut down the fraudulent accounts.
They have no idea who’s behind the accounts, however they’ve scoured social media for anybody claiming to promote papers to college students, earlier than and through examination season.
Examination boards don’t have any energy to close the accounts down so as an alternative, they report them to social media platforms – usually citing copyright as a approach to escalate the criticism.
A spokesperson for TikTok mentioned any accounts “selling fraud or scams” are eliminated, whereas Snapchat mentioned customers ought to report suspicious exercise in order that motion could be taken.
However professional leaks are uncommon – and fraudulent accounts on social media are a rising downside.
“If we do a search on Tuesday, we’ll see 5 accounts. If we do the identical search on Wednesday, we’ll see 10 accounts,” Mr Hewison mentioned.
“When you get one, they will simply create one other account.”
Joint Council for {Qualifications} chief government Margaret Farragher mentioned it was like “digital whack-a-mole”.
“As quickly as they attempt to shut down one in all these pretend accounts, one other one opens up,” she added.
Ofqual chief regulator Jo Saxton instructed college students to not depend on “fraudsters on the web” forward of their exams.
“You threat not solely shedding cash however the penalties for you’re actually severe,” she mentioned.