Omotayo Adigun
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has implemented a novel strategy to combat examination malpractice, revealing on Thursday that it deployed a decoy website targeting candidates seeking illicit assistance for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) Mock examination.
Approximately 180 candidates fell into the trap by making payments to this fake site.
JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, made the disclosure while speaking to reporters during the monitoring of the Mock UTME exercise at a Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre in Bwari, Abuja.
He expressed concern over the existence of genuine “rogue websites” that solicit payments from candidates under the false promise of providing exam assistance.
To counter this, Professor Oloyede explained that JAMB created its own imitation rogue website.
“As of this morning, about 180 students have paid,” he revealed.
He emphasized that the mere attempt to cheat constitutes a serious infraction, and decisive action will be taken against those identified through the decoy operation.
“So those who paid into that account, looking for questions, we are going to deal firmly with them,” Professor Oloyede stated. “We are going to cancel their results, both UTME and DE (Direct Entry).”
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The Registrar strongly advised all candidates to focus on diligent study as the only legitimate path to success in the UTME. He warned them against patronizing fraudulent websites or individuals claiming they can help, noting that such schemes “cannot work.”
He added that some desperate candidates were paying sums as high as N30,000 for assistance that would ultimately prove useless, expressing a measure of amusement at those who inadvertently paid JAMB’s decoy site: “when I look at those who have paid us this money, I smile.”
Professor Oloyede also cautioned candidates against compromising their personal information.
“Do not give out your registration numbers. Do not register by proxy,” he advised.
He alluded to potential organised malpractice, sometimes linked to schools seeking to inflate their performance records, referencing a past incident where even a state governor was misled into celebrating false achievements.
He reiterated JAMB’s commitment to upholding the integrity of its examinations and actively countering attempts to cut corners.