Graduate Record Examinatons candidates now under lens after racket busted in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: The Graduate Record Examinatons (GRE) and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) conducted online in India is now under a cloud with the testing agency filing a case against a 'ring of fraudsters' helping Indian students ace the tests. Both the tests are crucial for candidates looking for admissions abroad.
The Educational Testing Service (ETS), which administers GRE, TOEFL and Praxis, used a private investigator as a decoy candidate to expose the fraud in the online exam.
It filed a case at the Cyber Crime PS of the Central Crime Station (CCS) about a week ago against Hyderabad-based Guna Sekhar and multiple unidentified persons. In their complaint they said the fraud damages the reputation of all candidates from India and also hurts genuine candidates in terms of competitive advantage in getting college admissions and jobs
As per the complaint, Guna Shekhar agreed to help the decoy GRE candidate for Rs 25,000. The modus operandi was simple: Shekhar hid in the same room as the candidate taking the test on a laptop, clicked photos of questions on a mobile and after receiving answers from his associates outside, relayed it to the candidate. According to ETS, there are dozens of such organised cheating rings operating across India through the year. It took Hyderabad as a test case to expose the gang's operation and submitted all details, including money paid to Shekhar and text messages exchanged with their decoy candidate to the cops.
"This complaint is being made with specific reference to the cheating ring operating in Hyderabad as an example against whom we have collected ample evidence," the ETS said. Police have registered a case under sections 66-D of the IT act and 419, 420 of the IPC.