Swindlers lure parents, students in KCSE exam grades con game

Shocking revelations have exposed a network of scammers exploiting candidates by promising to upgrade their 2024 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination results.

As 965,501 students anxiously await the release of their results, The Standard has uncovered an elaborate fraud scheme operating on Telegram.

These fraudsters have reportedly collected millions of shillings from desperate families by claiming they can change grades for a fee.

The scammers are impersonating Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) examiners and charging between Sh5,000 and Sh50,000.

A look at three such channels indicated they have amassed a huge following. One of the channels, titled “KCSE Exam Leakage 2024/November TVET Technical Examination”, has 7,579 subscribers.

Another, “KCSE Leakages 2024”, has 4,586 subscribers, while the third, “KCSE Grade Editing and Marking”, boasts 1,374 subscribers.

These channels not only claim to provide grade editing services but also access to leaked test papers during the examination period.

To test these claims, The Standard engaged one of the channels. The administrator demanded  Sh4,000 for a preliminary “search” to verify a candidate’s score.

This required providing the candidate’s school code, index number and official name.

To protect sensitive data, The Standard supplied false, non-existent candidate details.

Despite the fabricated information, the administrator claimed that the imaginary candidate had scored a grade of C-.

The scammers then outlined their pricing structure for grade changes. They charged Sh5,000 for grades D+, C- and C plain, Sh10,000 for a C+, Sh15,000 for a B-, Sh20,000 for a B plain, Sh25,000 for a B+, Sh35,000 for an A-, and Sh45,000 for grade A. The prices fluctuated frequently.

After paying Sh7,000 to upgrade the imaginary candidate’s grade from C- to C+, the minimum university entry mark, the administrator shared a Knec-branded template showing the before-and-after grades, complete with individual subject scores and the overall grade.

To further persuade their targets, the scammers shared a list of names and grades, claiming these belonged to individuals who had successfully paid for grade changes.

They also posted fear-inducing messages like, “Don’t fail while you can change your grade,” which attracted over 2,500 views.

Knec has condemned the fraudulent activities, assuring that their systems cannot be manipulated.

“In any high stake examination, there are people who find it as an opportunity to take advantage of people who are desperate by claiming that they are able to sell them exam papers or edit their score, but the system is watertight and no one can change the candidate’s grade,” David Njengere, Knec chief executive.

Dr Njengere also revealed that some of those purporting to offer the services have been arrested by the Directorate of Criminal Investigation. “Such activities expose candidates to child abuse because they trust adults to help them with their examinations instead of taking that time to revise for the test,” he said.

The council is confident that such claims would not tarnish the country’s standing in internationally qualifications, noting Kenya has proved to have a watertight examination system since the 2016 reforms on conduct of national examinations.

“(Education CS) Prof George Magoha documented how the examination processes were secured from 2016 step by step and anybody telling you they can access an examination paper before the start of the test or they can change a student’s grade, they are lying,” said Njengere.

Similar incidents were witnessed during the administration of KCSE examinations last year, where fraudsters on the social media platform may have minted millions of shillings. 

The swindlers claimed to be in a position to grant one prior access to examination papers for a fee. 

While the scammers would share photos of the tests on the Telegram channels and edit the timestamps to show the papers had been shared earlier than the actual time.

This saw access to the platform suspended from November 8 to November 22 when the candidates finished writing their examinations.