The Joint Board of Admissions and Matriculation (JAMB) has advised parents not to put undue pressure on their wards who are taking the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
JAMB said undue pressure could lead students to scammers who claim to have the ability to update UTME results.
JAMB had banned in April 2021 during the 2021 UTME parents from exam venues and warned them not to put pressure on their wards.
scammed candidate
In a recent meeting with some media executives, JAMB revealed how “undue pressure” from a parent led his son into a fraudulent results falsification syndicate to help boost his JAMB score.
The candidate, Abejide Samuel Oluwagbohunmi, was said to be seeking admission to the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) with a UTME score of 190 out of a possible 400.
Unhappy with his score and “frustrating” pressure from his mother, the candidate allegedly turned to a “scammer” who collected his money and presented him with a fake UTME result with a score of 225.
“He lied to his mother that both results were from JAMB,” the examining body said.
The mother, who was unsettled by the discrepancies in the result, is said to have written to JAMB seeking clarification.
ALSO READ: Alleged N900m Fraud: Former JAMB Registrar Ojerinde Considers Plea Bargain Option With ICPC
When summoned, JAMB said that the candidate confessed and said that his actual result of 190 was not suitable for processing his admission.
Repeated warnings
The examining body said it had repeatedly warned candidates not to approach fraudsters for the ‘improvement’ of UTME scores, noting that such efforts would only end in embarrassment.
In one of its weekly newsletters, JAMB said: “The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit would like to inform parents, guardians and applicants in particular that there is no such thing as ‘JAMB score improvement.’ This has never existed and will never be approved by the board.”
“Both parents/guardians and applicants should be aware that so-called score enhancement is simply a scam perpetrated by scammers to deceive unsuspecting and gullible applicants, their parents or guardians, as the case may be.”
He added that any parent or guardian, “or even candidates themselves who may engage in such a fraudulent act, do so at their own risk and should be prepared to face the full wrath of the law when caught.”
The examining body directed candidates with challenges or complaints to its ticketing platform.