The Japanese police recently arrested Chinese national Wang Likun, a graduate student at Kyoto University, again, accusing him of using a forged registration certificate to take the TOEIC English test for someone in Tokyo. This is his third arrest for similar cheating behavior. This case has exposed a possibly organized large-scale cheating group, sparking high social attention.
According to reports from NHK and Fuji TV in Japan, Wang Likun is suspected of registering under someone else’s name and using a forged registration certificate to take the TOEIC exam in the northern district of Tokyo in February this year.
Police investigations have revealed that there are at least 13 Chinese examinees with similar registration information to Wang Likun, all sharing the same address, indicating the possibility of organized cheating.
According to the police, Wang Likun recruited “proxy test-takers” through Chinese social media and helped arrange the process of taking exams on behalf of others. A candidate told the police that he found “proxy test-taking services” on a Chinese social networking site and paid about 50,000 yen (approximately $340) as compensation.
Since Wang Likun’s first arrest in May, the police have continued to uncover multiple similar cases. On June 7, at a TOEIC test center in Tokyo’s Nerima district, 77 Chinese examinees were found to have the same registered address, with three individuals carrying prohibited devices like headphones and micro cameras, suspected of cheating.
Furthermore, on June 22 at a test center in Tokyo’s Minato district, it was discovered that 18 Chinese registrants came from the same address, indicating potential collective cheating.
The police have pointed out that there may be criminal organizations behind these illegal activities, specifically arranging for examinees to cheat. Investigations are ongoing to uncover the hidden operations.
The International Business Communication Coordination (IBCC), the organizer of the TOEIC test, has released investigation results confirming that in the past two years, a total of 803 examinees were suspected of misconduct, with their registration addresses highly overlapping with Wang Likun’s. IBCC stated that the scores of these examinees will be invalidated, and their TOEIC test eligibility for the next five years will be revoked.
IBCC emphasizes that they will enhance examinee identity verification and test center supervision, and plan to introduce more anti-cheating measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) is a globally recognized English proficiency test used mainly to assess examinees’ English communication abilities in workplace and academic environments. In Japan, TOEIC scores are widely used as references for corporate recruitment and employee evaluations, and are also included in some university courses or graduation requirements, carrying a certain degree of practicality and influence.