05 June 2023 , 13:18
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Scammers across social media are conning teenagers out of hundreds of pounds by offering them fake GCSE and A-level papers ahead of exam day.
The desperate students are falling for scams on TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram and parting with anything from £7.50 to a whopping £4,000.
One young student was reportedly charged £500 for a GCSE paper.
The youngsters said they first saw accounts claiming to sell GCSE exam papers on TikTok, but she was then told to contact the seller through Instagram.
She said: "I was taken aback because it was ridiculous prices. Anywhere north of £500 for a paper was the typical offer from multiple accounts for one exam paper."
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Youngsters are targeted on social media apps (Getty Images/Westend61)She didn’t buy the paper, but said she knows students who have paid up to £900, according to the BBC.
Even if youngsters do receive an exam paper, they are unlikely to be actual copies of this year's papers and were more likely doctored past papers, if they are actually sent anything at all.
Bill Hewison, a case analyst at exam board, AQA, said many scammers use doctored images of previous exams, changing the date and text on the front cover to try to dupe students.
"A few weeks ago, we saw an account claiming to sell one of our exams for £7.50," he said.
They are paying out for fake papers (BBC)"Right at the other end of the scale, you've got thousands of pounds [being quoted] - two, three, four thousand pounds.
"If we do a search on Tuesday, we will see five accounts. If we do the same search on Wednesday, we will see 10 accounts.
"If you get one, they’ll just create another account."
A spokesperson for the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) said: "Attempting to obtain any confidential assessment material, whether it turns out to be real or fake, is malpractice."
JCQ chief executive Margaret Farragher said it was like "digital whack-a-mole".
"As soon as they try to close down one of these fake accounts, another one opens up," she added.
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Youngsters can be banned from sitting all exams if they are caught cheating.