Joint Admission Matricualtion Board, JAMB has alerted of fresh plots being deployed by fraudsters to dupe unsuspecting candidates as they await release of the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, results.
In a weekly news bulletin released to the media on Sunday by Dr. Fabian Benjamin, its Head of Media, the board advised candidates to jealously guard their UTME registration numbers and profile codes to avoid falling victim of this latest scam.
It also said more than 200 candidates, drawn from seven countries, participated in its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.
JAMB stated: ”Candidates should know that what these fraudsters do is to take advantage of their naivety and subsequently obtain their registration numbers with which they print their Examination Notification slips which contain the candidates’ phone number and other vital data.
“These fraudsters then use this information to send messages to same candidates disguising as officials of the Board or persons who have special information, access and capacity to inflate the candidates’ scores among other things.
“Their strategy is akin to that of a police officer who is unmindful of the fact that he is wearing his name tag on his uniform and when you address him by his name, he is surprised that you know his name.
“The Board urges candidates to see their registration numbers and profile codes as security data similar to the Automated Teller Machine, ATM pin number which admit them to make withdrawal from their accounts.
“The fraudsters use the information derived from the examination Notification slip printed using the candidates’ registration number to open up a line of communication with candidates to dangle the enticing offer of awarding them higher scores in the yet-to-be released 2019 UTME results among other mouth watering promises.
“This is fraudulent as they lack the capacity to do any of such. Candidates are, therefore, enjoined to disregard messages or calls from anybody claiming to have access to the board’s classified information.
“The board wishes to state emphatically that the results of the 2019 UTME have not been released.”
JAMB urged the public, particularly parents and candidates, to be wary of these dubious elements and disregard any overtures made by anybody touting their power or influence to inflate any candidate’s score.
“The Board will make it public when the results are ready. As such, the channel through which candidates can view their results has been communicated to them.
“In the meantime, security operatives have picked up some of these nefarious characters and they are on the trail of others still at large,”it further added.
Meanwhile, JAMB has said over 200 candidates, drawn from seven countries, participated in its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, conducted last Saturday.
The board said the exercise, which took place in the United Kingdom, Ghana, Cameroon, Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was successful.
“The exercise, which was administered hitch free, was a testimony to the commitment and capacity of the board to render quality service to the nation whenever the need arises,” it explained in its weekly news bulletin, released Sunday.
The foreign-based examination for Nigerian candidates and citizens of other nationalities who may want to study in Nigeria, according to JAMB, in the bulletin, is “to give equal opportunity to all Nigerians desirous of qualitative higher education, particularly Nigerians in diaspora and other foreigners who may wish to come to Nigeria and acquire tertiary education.”
“Over 200 candidates took the examination that held simultaneously on Saturday, April 27, 2019, in all the aforementioned centres.
“Reports from the board’s officials deployed to these foreign examination centres revealed that the candidates, particularly Nigerians, were elated with the various innovations and professionalism brought to bear on the conduct of the examination by the Prof. Ishaq Oloyede-led JAMB.
“They also expressed their appreciation to the board for the opportunity to achieve their dreams and aspirations for tertiary education.”
