New Delhi: The Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of the Delhi Police has busted a “module” that has allegedly been taking online IT certification exams on behalf of students and professionals aiming to boost their career prospects in IT companies. So far, the police have arrested three people in connection with the money-for-marks scheme.

According to the police, the masterminds of the high-tech cheating racket are a father-and-son duo, Rajesh Kumar Shah and Deep Shah, who run an IT coaching institute in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The two allegedly hired a Delhi-based technical expert, Aklakh Alam, to take the exams remotely for clients.

“We received intel that several services are available on the dark web, in which hackers claim they can get the desired score by hacking into the device used by the examinee,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) K.P.S. Malhotra told ThePrint. Another police source said that the accused charged around Rs 9,000-10,000, and gave exams for about 200 clients.

The trio apparently specialised in cracking various online tech certification exams. Getting a high score in these competitive exams can help IT aspirants get better placements, DCP Malhotra told ThePrint.

“Various international certifications are prerequisites to upgrade technical skills. These certifications are being provided by a number of reputed organisations — there are certifications from Cisco, CompTIA, EC-Council… these play a crucial role in the selection and pay grade of a candidate in the IT sector as well in other industries,” the officer said. He added that high scores in these competitive exams can make a big difference to the career progress of IT aspirants.

“These certifications are taken up worldwide, by huge IT companies like Microsoft, Google etc and higher packages are given to the aspirants,” another police source said.

“They have been running this scam since the Covid-19 outbreak, as all examinations shifted to an online mode. The latest intel we received was [about the] Pearson IT certification,” the source added.

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