The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has warned candidates sitting for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination to be careful of fake and criminal text messages being shared by fraudsters.
In a statement released on Wednesday in Abuja, JAMB’s spokesperson, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said the fake messages are not from the board but from criminals trying to scam candidates.
“These messages are not from JAMB,” Benjamin said. “Security agencies have been notified and are now tracking those behind this scam.”
He explained that the scammers are using a fake code that mixes the real JAMB short code, 55019, with another number, 8863, to trick people into thinking the messages are official.
The fraudsters then send messages claiming they have found problems in a candidate’s JAMB details and ask them to contact certain people for help. These contacts, according to Benjamin, are part of the scam.
“This is a common trick used by fraudsters during exam periods to deceive innocent candidates,” he added.
Benjamin advised all UTME candidates and the general public to ignore such messages. He also urged everyone to be alert and double-check any message they receive.
“Any message that looks strange, uses suspicious language, or is not from JAMB’s official channels should be treated as fake,” he warned.
JAMB encouraged candidates to only trust messages coming from their verified platforms and to report anything suspicious to the nearest authorities.
