Twenty Arrested for Hacking JAMB 2025 CBT Exam System in Nationwide Exam Fraud Syndicate

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Twenty individuals have been arrested in Abuja for allegedly hacking the 2025 Computer-Based Test (CBT) system of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The arrests were carried out by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Police Force.

The suspects are believed to be part of a larger syndicate comprising over 100 individuals specializing in compromising the servers of national examination bodies, including JAMB and the National Examinations Council (NECO). According to security sources, the suspects confessed to deliberately sabotaging the CBT infrastructure with the aim of discrediting JAMB and discouraging the use of CBT technology in future examinations administered by NECO and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

Investigations revealed that the suspects manipulated the exam system to inflate scores for so-called “special candidates” who paid between ₦700,000 and ₦2 million. Many members of the syndicate reportedly own private schools and special exam centres where they exploit students by promising guaranteed high scores in exchange for exorbitant fees.

This development comes just two weeks after the release of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results. Data from the results showed that over 78 percent of candidates scored below 200 points out of a total of 400.

On May 14, JAMB Registrar Prof. Ishaq Oloyede disclosed that the results of 379,997 candidates from 157 centres in Lagos and the South-East were compromised. He explained that a faulty server update from one of JAMB's technical service providers prevented candidate responses from uploading during the initial three days of the examination. The issue went undetected before the release of the results, prompting the board to schedule a resit for affected candidates beginning on May 16 and extending beyond May 19.

Authorities are continuing investigations into the syndicate, as efforts intensify to identify and prosecute all those involved in undermining the integrity of national examinations.