How the Baccalaureate cheating ring operated: Candidates wore hidden headphones

The five individuals suspected of creating the high school graduation exam fraud ring have been detained, but judges at the Alba County Court have ordered them to be placed under judicial supervision for a period of 60 days, beginning July 4, according to a press release issued Monday by the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Alba County Court.

They are under investigation for “disclosing confidential or non-public information for the purpose of cheating on the high school graduation exams through a network of individuals (2023–2026).”

Mode of Operation

The criminal investigation conducted by investigators revealed evidence suggesting that, between 2023 and 2026, the five defendants created and expanded a network of individuals for the purpose of cheating on the high school graduation exams by dozens of candidates during each exam session, in order to obtain money.

“Thus, some candidates filmed the exam questions in the exam rooms and transmitted them immediately after the exams began via remote communication channels, while the questions were still confidential; the questions were then immediately solved by other individuals, and the defendants would forward them to individuals who dictated the answers to the candidates in the exam rooms, who were wearing electronic devices with concealed headsets,” prosecutors state.

The money obtained from the candidates who passed was divided among all those involved, based on each person’s role in this scheme.

During the period of judicial supervision, the five are required to comply with the imposed obligations and to refrain from contacting the other defendants or any other participants in the criminal activity of disclosing confidential or non-public information, committed for the purpose of exam fraud. They were warned that, in the event of a bad-faith violation of their obligations, the judicial supervision measure may be replaced with house arrest or pretrial detention.

Prosecutors from the Alba County Prosecutor’s Office conducted dozens of searches on Friday in the counties of Alba, Arad, Bihor, Cluj, and Sibiu following an alleged attempt to cheat on the high school graduation exam by leaking the test questions prior to the exam.