A network of 10 groups raised millions from more than 1,300 students; Suspect admits to generating documents using AI
KARACHI:
Karachi police on Monday arrested four members of an organized network involved in leaking Matric and Intermediate Board exam papers, collecting millions of rupees from students in return.
The Karachi police chief had assigned the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) the task of tracing the network, which included 10 groups that leaked exam papers to students via WhatsApp the night before the exams.
SIU Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Samiullah Soomro speaking to The Express PK Press Clubsaid complaints of online fraud had been received for some time. The leaked documents, he noted, were between 70 and 90 percent accurate.
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He said those arrested initially created eight WhatsApp groups to which more than 1,300 students added. Members were informed the day before an exam that the document had been leaked and was available from the administrator, with interested students asked to contact them via direct message to obtain the document.
Soomro said police discovered two additional WhatsApp groups during the investigation. He added that police had so far arrested the ringleaders of four of the ten groups.
SSP Soomro said police suspected that some individuals from the matric and intermediate boards might also be involved in the network, through whom the documents were leaked to the suspects.
During his interrogation, he said a suspect confessed that he created the diaries himself using artificial intelligence. The suspect claimed that he used previous documents and guess documents to generate new ones with AI, which is why the leaked documents were not 100% accurate.
He then sold these papers to students through WhatsApp groups.
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SSP Soomro added that the suspects collected payments from students through online mediums, saying the police obtained records of these transactions. Further investigation revealed that the main number used to manage WhatsApp groups was registered in the UK, and efforts are on to obtain its details.
The SSP further said that police recovered cash, mobile phones, hard drives and transaction records from the suspects, who were arrested from Malir, Surjani Town, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and New Karachi.
The SIU will present the suspects in court on Tuesday for remand.
