Edit score: how scammers deceive schoolchildren before the Unified State Exam
Frauds on the USE and OGE appear every year in the spring closer to the exams, potential victims are often searched on social networks. The other day it became known that a Moscow schoolgirl gave a fortune teller almost 4 million rubles to "remove the damage from failing the Unified State Exam." The fraudster contacted the girl on Telegram, offered her to do the alignment and convinced her that the graduate would not be able to pass the exams on her own. Izvestia found out what other tricks criminals are using before the start of final exams and how parents can protect teenagers.
Removal of spoilage
In Moscow, a schoolgirl gave 3.8 million rubles to a fortune teller from the Internet. So she wanted to remove the "damage from failing the Unified State Exam," which the fraudster convinced her of, according to the Telegram channel Mash.
The parents saved the money for the down payment on the apartment for their daughter. They missed the amount when they planned to purchase real estate. The schoolgirl admitted that she took the money at the behest of a woman on the Internet.
According to the young Muscovite, in December she met a fortune teller on Telegram, who offered to tell fortunes for admission to a university for 500 rubles. During the alignment, she stated that she sees damage on the girl, which will leave her without a higher education.
As a result, the fortune teller began to conduct paid rituals and lured the girl out of all the money that was kept at home: 1.1 million rubles, $ 10 thousand and € 16 thousand, and then deleted the chat. The girl's parents filed a police report.
Izvestia sent a request to the Moscow Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but no response had been received at the time of publication.
New scheme
Legends in which fraudsters exploit the topic of the Unified State Exam and the OGE appear every year in the spring closer to the exams, explains Alla Khrapunova, an expert of the Popular Front project For Borrowers' Rights, curator of the Moshelovka platform. The fortune—teller scheme is new, it has not appeared before.
— But it also has features that have been encountered in other cases. Firstly, the victim was found on Telegram, the most popular channel for scammers. Secondly, they applied the story of the fortune teller to the child, they are given large sums even by adults who want, for example, to be cured, to take care of loved ones, to get rid of addiction. It is usually not possible to return the money," the expert says.
As a rule, she notes, scammers are looking for victims who are in an unstable psychological state, trying to find moral support, as the Moscow schoolgirl turned out to be. The criminal skillfully played on her fear of exams, insecurity, gullibility and inability to think critically.
Despite the fact that the scheme with a fortune-teller turned out to be effective, more often scammers use others, the Izvestia interlocutor notes. The scenarios are repeated from year to year — they usually involve selling answers and other help during exams.
Frequent scenarios
According to Irina Dmitrieva, a cybersecurity expert and analytical engineer at the Gazinformservice Cybersecurity Research Laboratory, fraudsters who "assist with the Unified State Exam" are becoming active on all social networks, messengers and video platforms. They create closed channels called "USE 100 points" or "Simple admission", exam preparation groups, where advertising posts from assistants and "magicians" appear.
— Sometimes they make short videos with the stories "How I passed 90+ quickly", and the description contains a link to paid services. Paid help can also appear in the search engine, in response to the query "I'm afraid to take the exam, what to do," says Dmitrieva.
In addition, she adds, scammers can search for children in popular groups and public sites. Their communication tactics are based on the fear, gullibility, and inexperience of young people: they offer help and advice, both free (at first) and paid, for a nominal amount that will grow over time. But the most popular scheme is related to the sale of answers for the Unified State Exam and the BSE.
— Scammers offer "original" samples of work options that will be presented on the exam. They can even compromise the school's mail and send out such "actions" on behalf of a legitimate representative of the educational institution, — says the interlocutor of Izvestia.
Another common trick, according to her, is related to "fake benefits": fraudsters offer to purchase a diploma from the All-Russian Olympiad of Schoolchildren, which supposedly provides 100 points for a profile exam. The sample turns out to be a fake and is disclosed when applying to the university. All this can lead not only to useless expenses, but also to a criminal case for forgery of documents.
"In general, the situation is becoming hopeless for victims, since there is no one to complain to, and it is impossible — attempts to buy answers and similar documents are illegal," adds Alla Khrapunova.
Methods of protection
In order to protect yourself from scammers during the exam, experts recommend talking to your children — explaining that you should not trust strangers online, no matter who they appear to be. Exam answers cannot be purchased because they are encrypted.
— The exam structure and the system of storage, transportation and verification of control and measuring materials (CIM) are designed to minimize the human factor and make leakage of assignments almost impossible. Every step, from the preparation of exam materials to the verification of forms, is controlled by special systems. In addition, specially authorized commissions and representatives of Rosobrnadzor are monitoring this on the ground," explains lawyer Sean Betrozov.
According to him, even employees of educational institutions who are in direct contact with students and exam materials face a whole set of barriers that exclude access to key information. Assignments are printed out immediately before the start of the exam in the presence of observers, and video recordings are made. An attempt to hack electronic data storage systems is also unlikely, since the databases are protected, and any changes lead to inaccuracies that are quickly detected by monitoring systems. Therefore, any talk about reliable ways to get answers before the exam or to increase scores is just an invention of scammers.
In turn, Alla Khrapunova urges parents to be more attentive and attentive towards teenage graduates - to observe their behavior, try to talk and calm the child in case of any strange changes. Simple rules of confidential communication will help to protect the student from mistakes and deception.
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