Thousands of Candidates who sat for the 2024 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination and their parents have lost millions of shillings to scammers who promise to upgrade their results.
The scammers operating on Telegram have reportedly collected millions of shillings from desperate KCSE 2024 Candidates by claiming they can change grades for a fee. They are charging between Sh5,000 and Sh100,000 in order to ‘change’ KCSE grades.
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Shockingly, the scammers have large followings. One such Telegram group with the title “Leakage 2024/November TVET Technical Examination”, has about 8,000 subscribers.
Another, “KCSE Leakages 2024”, has 4,586 subscribers, while the third, “KCSE Grade Editing and Marking”, boasts 1,374 subscribers.
Others are: ‘KCSE 2024 KNEC LEAKAGE’ with 2,707 subcribers
The groups are so notorious to an extent of claiming that they could be able to prematurely access the 2024 KCSE papers.
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.
According to classified reports, the fraudsters are charging 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 Kenya National Examinations Council, 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.
During the KCSE 2024 Examinations administration period, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) instructed telecommunications firms Safaricom, Airtel, Telkom, and Jamii to suspend access to Telegram during specific hours.
The restriction, which was enforced from November 1 to November 22, took place between 7-10 am and 1-4 pm each day.
“It has come to the attention of the Authority that the Telegram platform is being misused to perpetrate criminal activities, including compromising on the integrity of the ongoing national examinations,” CA Director-General David Mugonyi said in a letter addressed to Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa, Airtel Managing Director Ashish Malhotra, Telkom CEO Mugo Kibati, and Jamii Telecommunications CEO C.K. Joshua.
“As a result, various government agencies have reached out to the Authority seeking assistance in taking down social media channels and forums, including Telegram, that are interfering with the integrity of our national examinations.” Mugonyi added.
Mugonyi also noted that while other social media platforms operating in Kenya had taken proactive steps to curb misuse, Telegram had reportedly remained unresponsive.
“Whereas all other social media platforms operating in Kenya have taken steps to address misuse of their platforms, we note with dismay that Telegram Inc. has remained non-responsive and continues to host offending forums and channels in blatant breach of the laws of the land and the general principles of Data Protection and Privacy,” he said.
To address these concerns, CA had directed all mobile network operators to enforce the suspension during KCSE examination hours.
“By this letter, all mobile network operators are hereby directed to use all available mechanisms to suspend the operation of Telegram Inc. in the country, particularly during the administration of the KCSE examinations from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday up until November 22nd, 2024,” the authority had said.