JAMB Exposes AI-Driven Exam Fraud, Says Over 1,500 UTME Candidates Faked Albinism To Bypass Facial Recognition

The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, has raised an alarm over the growing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by fraudsters to perpetrate examination malpractice during the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Speaking in Abuja, Oloyede revealed that some candidates and accomplices have deployed advanced AI technology to blend the facial features of two individuals, creating a synthetic image that mimics the appearance of an albino in order to bypass facial recognition systems.

“Some individuals attempted to cheat by falsely declaring themselves as albino in a bid to exploit facial recognition vulnerabilities,” he said.

“They are not albinos. It is because the AI that they were using had certain features such that if they do not declare themselves as albino on our forms, you will look critically more.”

According to Oloyede, the fraud was uncovered after suspicious registration patterns were flagged and investigated.

“We have never had even up to 100 albinos in any year. But this year, we have 1,787 albinos,” he disclosed.

He said alarm bells rang when it was discovered that a single registration centre recorded 450 self-declared albino candidates, an implausibly high figure.

“Out of 2 million candidates that registered in centres across the country, we found out that one centre alone had registered 450 out of this figure, as if all albinos in Africa decided to go to that particular centre,” he noted.

According to him, the breakthrough came after one of the suspects in custody offered a confession.

“When one of those arrested gave us information that, ‘look, I will tell you what really happened,’ and he did,” Oloyede said.

“So, we went after all those who claimed to be albinos only to find out that all the genuine albinos who registered for the 2025 UTME are less than 250.”

The JAMB Registrar also referenced a particular incident in Benin City, Edo State.

“You could all see the dark-complexioned man arrested in Benin City claiming to be an albino. How do you become albino? But that is one of their strategies,” he said.

He further explained how AI tools are being used to aid impersonation.

He noted, “To declare that they are albino because what they do in blending is that if you want to impersonate someone, they will take the picture of the two of you together and then blend it.

“When you look at the picture, it will also look like you. That’s what AI is doing now. It’s picture blending.”

Oloyede said JAMB is working to tighten its biometric verification processes and will continue to expose and prosecute examination cheats and their collaborators.