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High Tech Medical Exam Cheats Busted
Two B.C. men are facing criminal charges for allegedly attempting a high tech scam to cheat on a medical school entrance exam using secret cameras, wireless transmitters and three suspicious tutors. According to documents filed in provincial court in Richmond, B.C., Josiah Miguel Ruben and Houman Rezazadeh-Azar are each facing six charges including theft, unauthorized use of a computer, using a device to obtain unauthorized service and theft of data. Police allege that on January 29 Rezazadeh-Azar sat down in a room at the University of Victoria to write the Medical College Admissions Test, or MCAT, run by the Association of Medical Colleges. Police allege he used a pinhole camera and wireless technology to transmit images of the questions on a computer screen back to his co-conspirator, Ruben, at the University of British Columbia. Investigators believe Ruben then tricked three other students, who thought they were taking a multiple choice test for a job to be an MCAT tutor, into answering the questions. The answers were then transmitted back by phone to Rezazadeh-Azar, as he continued on with the test in Victoria, police allege. However, the would-be tutors became suspicious by the poor quality of the images of the test questions, and the fact that they were allowed to discuss the question together before giving Ruben their answers. When Ruben left the room to transmit some of the answers, the would-be tutors checked online and determined the MCAT exam was being held that day in locations around the world. They also found evidence on the computer's hard drives that the owner had been looking into pin-hole cameras and wireless networks. So the three students called campus security and began submitting wrong answers to the scammers while they waited for the officers to arrive and arrest Ruben. The documents said phone records also showed Rezazadeh-Azar was on an open phone line with Ruben during the exam. Teddi Fishman, the director of the International Centre for Academic Integrity in the Unites States, says most cases of cheating harm the testing organization and other students who are writing the test. "This is unusual. This is just above and beyond what usually happens," said Fishman. "What's unusual here is that they actually conned the people who are going to be supplying the answers." The organization which administers the Medical College Admissions Test told police the incident cost them more than $200,000 because the compromised test had to be discontinued and replaced.
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