As the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations continue, candidates, teachers, and parents have fallen prey to fraudsters using social media platforms to milk millions of shillings from them in the name of distributing the exam papers.
An investigative report by NTV has exposed how exam fraudsters are using Telegram to lure unprepared candidates, teachers, and parents who want to help students who rely on leakages to pass the exams.
According to the reports, the fraudsters claim to be in a position to grant students prior access to the KCSE papers if they paid a specific amount of money. The money one pays will determine the number of exam papers you will have access to.
What is most puzzling is how these fraudsters have access to these papers and take pictures of the exam papers immediately after they are opened or while the exam is in progress, using them to lure more customers.
The Telegram page going by the name 'Official KCSE Leakages 2024' has witnessed an increased number of subscribers currently at over 72,000 subscribers within the past five days as the exams continue.
The fraudsters are charging different packages for different needs. One would have to part with Ksh3,500 for a single paper, with the amount going beyond Ksh18,000 an amount that has since dropped to Ksh12,000 for VIP access which links one to all the papers up to the end of the examinations.
In their investigative reports, NTV found out that once the fraudsters get the money, they go missing in action, without providing the papers.
They made payments as required in the group awaiting to be provided with the Kiswahili paper they requested. After payments, they were prompted to wait for verification, a process that took over 30 minutes.
"I am not sure how to respond to that. This is an automated KCSE LEAKAGE BOT. Every resource is available here. Follow the procedure to access the KCSE leakages and other services, and contact admin for more. Please use the menu buttons / start to access our services," read the message NTV reporters got after paying for the leakage.
This is the method the scammers have been using to cheat parents, teachers, and candidates that they have access to the papers.
On the page, the scammers post photos of exam papers as soon as the exams begin to lure unsuspecting Kenyans to believe that they have prior access to the exam papers.
This is a great concern on the credibility of the examining officers in the center who still have access to their phones and take pictures of the papers to collude with the scammers, by providing photos of the exam papers, which is not allowed.
This concerning revelation comes at a time when the Ministry of Education promised to seal all the loopholes and ensure that the exams do not leak.
On Friday, Education PS Dr Belio Kipsang said that only 11 cases were reported of examiners trying to sneak in mobile phones and other information gadgets to examination centers.
