2025 UTME: JAMB Raises Fraud Alert, Clarifies ‘misleading’ Reports On Exam Centres
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has lamented circulation of false, misleading and criminal messages targeting candidates that registered for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
In a statement, Wednesday in Abuja, JAMB spokesman, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said the messages are being disseminated by fraudsters to defraud unsuspecting candidates.
He said the perpetrators had exploited the numerical variant of UTME’s 8863 and merged it with the Board’s sort code, ‘55019’, to create a deceptive sort code that mimics JAMB’s official messaging system.
He said, through the fraudulent scheme, fraudsters have been sending misleading messages to candidates, falsely claiming to detect manipulations in their JAMB details and urging them to contact certain individuals who will “assist” in resolving these fabricated issues.
Benjamin urged the general public to remain vigilant and critically assess the messages they receive, adding that any communication that does not align with JAMB’s official channels or uses suspicious language or instructions should be treated as fraudulent.
“We want to emphasise that these messages are not from JAMB. Security agencies have been notified and are actively tracking the perpetrators behind this scam.
“Candidates are strongly advised to ignore such messages. This is a common tactic employed by fraudsters, who seek to exploit the examination period to deceive and defraud innocent candidates,” he said.
In a related development, the JAMB spokesman addressed what he called a misleading publication regarding the UTME examination, “which inaccurately claims that candidates cannot sit for the examination outside their state of registration.
He said: “In a recent interview with a NAN reporter, I clarified that candidates are not restricted to taking the examination within their state of registration. They have the flexibility to register anywhere in the country and select any town nationwide from any registration point.
“Computer-Based Test Centres are clustered according to towns for convenience, allowing candidates to choose the town where they wish to take the examination. For example, if a candidate selects Garki as their examination town, they must take the exam there and cannot do so or be posted as been alleged at times to a different town.
“It is crucial to rectify this misunderstanding to prevent confusion among candidates. Those who have registered for the UTME and selected examination towns outside their state of registration are indeed permitted to sit for the examination in their chosen towns.
“Candidates have the freedom to select their examination town from any location across the country, regardless of their state of registration. For instance, a candidate can register in Lagos and opt to take the examination in Sokoto or any other location.
“This flexibility is designed to accommodate candidates’ preferences and ensure they can choose a location that is convenient for them. We urge the public to disregard the erroneous report from NAN in its entirety.”