Social media companies need to do more to "shut down" scammers selling fake GCSE and A-level papers to students, say exam boards. TikTok and Instagram have said they do not allow the sale of exam papers on their platforms. Students say the accounts are "very easy to find", with one describing the posts as "psychologically manipulative".
The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which represents the UK's eight largest exam boards, says it is highly unlikely that real papers are being leaked online. England's exam regulator Ofqual says if students try to cheat, they could lose the qualification they have been studying for, even if the papers they try to buy are fake.
'Instagram seller quoted me £500 for a GCSE paper'. How does the GCSE grading system work? Students at The Commonweal School in Swindon said the fraudulent accounts could be found with "a simple search". "They're everywhere," said Oscar. "I found them very easily on TikTok."
Shreya described the accounts she has seen on Instagram as "psychologically manipulative" for students who might be duped into paying. "The kind of language they use is all very positive," she said.
"It's so misleading for people who are so stressed. It's messing with them." In the run-up to exams, teachers are showing students the scam accounts so they know what to look out for. "There's nothing we do that's more important than teaching them [students] how to keep themselves safe," said Mr Drew. "A lot of that is keeping themselves safe in the virtual world as well as the real world."
Instagram A screenshot of an Instagram account claiming to sell leaked exams. It is selling one paper for £30, three papers for £50, five papers for £75 and login details for £150.Instagram. Many of the scam accounts falsely claim to have access to every paper from several exam boards
Teams of analysts at exam boards scour social media sites to look for scammers and report any fraudulent accounts. But they can only report the incidents in the same way as any other social media user. Some of the scam accounts often remain active for several days after they have been reported.
