Two held for varsity grades tampering

LAHORE:

The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has arrested two suspects in illegally altering the marks and attendance records of a university's students for money.

A technical examination of the university's audit record had detected 72 alterations in the academic record of 33 students enrolled in 12 programmes. The agency said the suspects had allegedly charged students around Rs15,000 per subject for changing grades and attendance records. In some cases, the records of students were altered in more than one subject.

The investigation had been launched following a complaint by Government College University Faisalabad Registrar Rana Tanveer Ali, the NCCIA said. The programmes involved included BS Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Science, Botany, Mass Communication, Sociology, Chemistry, International Relations and English (Language and Literature), BBA and BS (Hons) Medical Laboratory Technology and Applied Chemistry.

Investigators traced payments made by several students to a mobile account through intermediary and merchant accounts before being withdrawn in cash.