Immigration scam: Three remanded for conducting ‘fraud’ GRE exams

Upon calling the number given on the website and following discussions on GRE, he was informed that at a cost of Rs 70,000, the agency will ensure that he passes the GRE scoring above 310-315 in the exam worth 340 marks.

He was informed that he had to pay Rs 19,000 in advance and Rs 50,000 after the exam. Hirani allegedly booked a test slot following which Makwana paid the advance of Rs 19,000 through UPI. Hirani then sent Makana the appointment letter of the test that showed the venue for the test as ‘home’. However, Hirani informed Makwana to be at Balwas Hotel in Surat on the exam date, which made Makwana suspicious after which he approached the cyber crime police.

The modus operandi, according to the cyber crime police, involved taking photos of the questions shared over WhatsApp and another then sitting behind the laptop, taking access of it through Bluetooth to select the answers, while the applicant sits in front of the laptop acting as if the applicant is the one typing out the answers.

According to the police, upon interrogating the accused, it has been revealed that for the last one year, the accused have similarly facilitated exams such as IELTS, PTE, GRE, TOEFL, etc for several aspirants to the US, Canada, Australia and other countries with such set-ups made in several such hotel rooms in Surat operating through the same modus operandi. In a year, the accused have allegedly cheated an estimated 400 such students.

Police said Reddy, currently pursuing BSc in computer science and an Andhra native, had been in Vadodara since the past two months and was earning a commission of Rs 4,000 per student for completing the set-up. Hirani, an engineering graduate, was running the immigration centre offering services of visa consultancy and has been involved in the alleged scam since the past one year.