The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has uncovered a nationwide syndicate using artificial intelligence to defraud candidates during the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) registration.
Registrar of JAMB, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed this at a press conference held in the agency’s headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria.
According to him, a discrete investigation conducted by the Board led to the arrest of some individuals involved in the fraudulent syndicate.
“The suspects falsely posed as JAMB officials and even created AI-manipulated videos and images, suggesting affiliation with the Minister of Education and JAMB Registrar, to lend credibility to their operations.
“The Board’s investigations further revealed that the criminals used AI-generated materials and forged identities to deceive candidates and parents into paying for promised assistance during the UTME,” he said.
He described the scheme as a disturbing development that threatens the integrity of Nigeria’s education system as it compromises merit, stressing that over the years, the Board has invested heavily financially, technologically and institutionally to safeguard the credibility of UTME.
“These efforts are not optional; they are necessary to protect millions of honest candidates whose only crime is believing that hard work still matters,” he said.
He explained that more than 100 candidates across 25 states had already been linked to the network, with 83 confirmed to have made payments for the illegal services.
“What is important for us to emphasise here is that the students themselves and their parents are willing collaborators, and they cannot be regarded as innocent. The Board would recommend the cancellation of registrations of candidates found to have subscribed to the fraudulent scheme.
“We have made up our mind that all those who subscribed, who paid to be assisted, we are making appropriate recommendations to the authorities… so that we can cancel their registration,” he said.
The JAMB Boss also debunked allegations that JAMB had increased its registration fees, describing such claims as false and politically motivated.
“If you find anybody charging beyond what was charged last year, let that person report to the Board.
“We have not increased the fee. Some erring Computer-Based Test centres had already been suspended,” he said.
Professor Oloyede stressed that the fraud was nationwide and not peculiar to any region or state.
He appealed to the media and the public for support of the agency, insisting that the Board would not negotiate with examination fraudsters.
“How do you negotiate with criminals? Our position is clear: paying for examination fraud is a crime,” he said, while warning parents against enabling malpractice, saying such actions ultimately damage their children’s future.
“Parents must understand that paying for fraud does not secure a child’s future; it destroys it. You are teaching them that cheating is a strategy, that deception is acceptable, and that merit is optional,” he said.
The Registrar equally revealed that some tutorial centres and school proprietors were implicated in the racket, including operators who allegedly transported candidates across states and lodged them in hotels for malpractice purposes.
Despite the growing sophistication of fraud attempts, Oloyede expressed confidence in JAMB’s technological capacity and collaboration with security agencies to stay ahead of perpetrators.
“We are ahead of them. The only problem we have is public opinion. Anybody who patronises such people will pay for it,” he said.
Oloyefe urged candidates, parents, schools and the media to join the Board’s campaign against examination malpractice, warning that ignorance would no longer be accepted as a defence.