The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has arrested two candidates and a parent over the alleged use of artificial intelligence and other electronic methods to falsify results from the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The board disclosed the arrests in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, noting that the suspects manipulated official SMS result notifications to generate fake scores intended to deceive parents and guardians.
“Currently, two candidates and one parent are in custody for engaging in result falsification using AI and other electronic means,” Benjamin said, warning that the offence is criminal and will be prosecuted.
The arrests came as JAMB released results for 632,788 candidates who sat for the examination on April 16, the opening day of the nationwide exercise.
Candidates were also advised not to tamper with result messages sent through JAMB’s official shortcodes, 55019 and 66019, which remain the only verified channels for checking UTME scores.
The 2026 UTME began on April 16 and is scheduled to run until April 22, with results expected to be released in batches as the examination progresses.
