Delhi Police bust online cheating racket

Police said the suspects used software tools to remotely take over the aspirants’ computer and take the competitive test on their behalf. Investigators said over 200 people had hired their services to crack such tests

The Delhi Police special cell has busted a racket helping people cheat online competitive exams and arrested three persons, including the two masterminds from Ahmedabad in Gujarat, for allegedly running the operation.

According to police, the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) Unit of Special Cell received information that several services for cheating in competitive exams are available on the dark web. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Police said the suspects used software tools to remotely take over the aspirants’ computer and take the competitive test on their behalf. Investigators said over 200 people had hired their services to crack such tests.

Many competitive exams, including by private institutions, had switched to the online route since the Covid pandemic.

According to police, the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) Unit of Special Cell received information that several services for cheating in competitive exams are available on the dark web.

“So a decoy was arranged to crack a deal for an online certification exam... The suspects were contacted over VoIP (voice over internet protocol) communication and the desired sum of money was transferred to the account provided by the alleged person,” said deputy commissioner of police (IFSO) KPS Malhotra.

The DCP said that the suspects used a software to enable remote access of the decoy’s laptop and took the test on October 25. “The decoy candidate was declared passed in the exam...,” he said.

During the investigation, the phone number, bank account and internet usage of one of the suspect, identified as D Shah, was tracked to Ahmedabad and he was arrested on November 24.

Later his father, R Kumar, who runs a IT training centre, was also arrested and the police found that the duo allegedly “assured 100% guarantee for clearing certification exams” on the behalf of aspirants.

Police also arrested A Alam, a resident of Shaheen Bagh, who allegedly took the exams on behalf of the aspirants.