Breaking News: Taiwan-Based Braindumpers Arrested
2/6/2004 -- The China Post is reporting today that four Taiwanese citizens have been arrested for selling IT certification exams questions through the Internet and for taking exams for other individuals.
According to the story, the four in custody -- Tung Pei-chang, 41; Hsu Ching-ping, 27; Hsiung Chih-yuan, 34; and "a man surnamed" Chang, 34 -- were arrested yesterday in various locations throughout Taiwan. Charges are fraud and copyright law.
The China Post article said that the groups sold the questions through the Web sites Test4U.net, TaipeiITtest.net and OPASScertification.net since 2001. According to the report, the sites boasted that the questions they sold were taken directly from Pearson Vue and Prometric test centers in various countries worldwide. The sites are currently offline.
It also states that in May the group began charging candidates TND $10,000 (around U.S. $300) to take exams in their place, employing a network of proxy test-takers and providing the service for about 300 clients in Taiwan.
Both enterprises resulted in revenues of around TND $5,000,000 (approximately U.S. $150,000), prosecutors say.
The China Post says that authorities were notified about the sites in Sept. of last year, but did not say whom the complaint came from.
This is the first known arrest of an overseas provider of IT certification exam questions (a.k.a. braindumps). There have been two high-profile U.S. criminal investigations, including one arrest: Robert Keppel, who owned Cheet-Sheets.com, pled guilty to a felony charge of theft of trade secrets in early 2003 and was sentenced to a year in prison. In another high-profile case, Garry Neale, then-owner of TroyTec.com and Testkiller.com, had his assets seized in June 2002 as part of a criminal investigation based on a complaint filed by Microsoft. Neale has not been charged.
These two incidents virtually quashed the U.S. braindump market, but overseas providers flourished, taking advantage of disparities between U.S. copyright laws and those in other countries, as well as the difficulties in prosecuting non-U.S. providers. This case is the first visible sign that some progress has been made on the international front.
At the Association of Test Publisher's conference earlier this week, this reporter talked to several IT certification security experts who hinted that things may be changing shortly for international braindump providers, but none referred to specific cases. Jack Killorin, Prometric's vice president of Worldwide Security, did remark in an interview that the industry has been looking at using criminal charges other than theft of trade secrets -- such as fraud, conspiracy and falsifying documents -- to pursue such cases, a tactic that has been successfully applied in at least one criminal case involving a higher-education entrance exam. "Do I care if they're charged with violating trade secrets or fraud...? No," he said. "I only care that they're behind bars."
CertCities.com is working on finding out more about this case and will bring it to you shortly. The China Post article can be found here.  -Becky Nagel
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There are 64  user Comments for “Breaking News: Taiwan-Based Braindumpers Arrested”
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| 2/7/04: Anonymous says: |
yeah, give em a break. this is a money making world and everyone is just trying to make money in their own ways. |
| 2/8/04: Anon from US says: |
If one is to make the argument that no one is harmed by using stolen test items to cheat on an exam, then you need to look carefully at all the issues. Would you knowingly take your child to a pharmacist or nurse who was licensed to practice because they cheated and passed an exam this way? Improperly awarded certifications can be a life-and death business. Even in the IT world this can be true. If we put a network that supports a hospital, power grid, or critical social infrastructure in the hands of an improperly accredited individual, the risks are more than theoretical. I don't wish to imply that there is a grey area where cheating is OK. The law in the US is clear and should be the model. Harvesting actual test questions is illegal and using them to "prepare" is cheating. Using simulated tests is legal and a legitimate preparation strategy. |
| 2/8/04: William A. Rosenberg from Albuquerque-New Mexico, USA says: |
...Wondering if anyone has experience with HOTCERTS.com. Is it like braindump also? Because its claim is too good to be true. For $85 you can have all the exams. I am preparing myself for CCNA and I am tempted somehow to check their claim. Any idea? |
| 2/8/04: Anonymous says: |
...and even though the "legal" test prep simulated test is not much different than the dumps, only different wordings and numbers, it's okay because it's legal and it makes you a qualified net admin. Say, an inexperienced newbie takes a cram book, read it 5 times, memorize the stuff, take a Boson "legal" test prep (which is well known for its similarity to the real exam, but not identical, thus legal), do the simulation test a couple of times, and take the exam the next day and pass, does that make him a qualified net admin (say, the one-exam-wonder CCNA)???? And how about a geek with 10 years of experience in network field but doesn't give a damn about getting into certs program, thus not certified but his own experience in hand, does that make him unqualified? How about if that geek uses a braindump to ensure his quick passing of an exam? Does that make him a dangerous asset in a network department? Yes cheating may not be okay but how about going through the legal way which is no less than cheating itself? Reading cram book(s) several times, memorizing stuff, do the "similar to the actual questions" test preps several times, and pass the test, that's okay because that's legal?? |
| 2/8/04: Anonymous says: |
For CHRIST sakes William A. Rosenberg, we're discussing on legal issues here and you're talking about another braindump website? Be prepared to get busted you spammer! |
| 2/9/04: Anonymous says: |
Don't even ask about another dot com offering study guides which are most definitely a variation of TestKing stuff. Even now many institutions that provide exam prep courses (for $2000-3000 each) are using TestKing materials to ensure that the students will pass the exams, thus they can guarantee very high passing rate (almost 100%), money back guarantee, etc. Furthermore, TestKing materials are already everywhere with variety of names and very low prices, all are identical except the vendors brands. By the way, your offer (or the offer you get, if that's even true) for $85 for all pdf's guides is big bullsh1t, I got all of those for only $30 with lifetime update as long as the site is still there and so far the updates have been quite frequent to follow TestKing's. So, that's a really bad offer or you're definitely getting awfully ripped. Learn to browse the Internet better and use a better marketing to sell your product, not in this forum please, that's cheap man! |
| 2/9/04: CertTimes says: |
As usual these comments end up as a peeing match between those who think anything goes and those who believe there is a right way and a wrong way to get certified. Several good points are made, however. 1. Performance based testing is needed to weed out the memorizers from the truly knowledgeable. There are several intitiatives towards making this a reality, but it won't happen overnight. 2. A common argument is that using Exam Cram books (or similar) Transcender and other test preparation is cheating. It isn't. The difference is these companies spend time, money and resources to provide a product, instead of stealing or dumping it for a quick buck. They certainly are profit motivated, but in there case the market determines their value. 3. To the guy looking at the dump site, anytime you see someone offering access to everything for little money, it's worth nothing. The adage is "Penny wise and Pound foolish." Try another one...Caveat Emptor (let the buyer beware) There is no support, no company behind these products who will try to support your efforts to get certified. My two cents worth |
| 2/9/04: William A. Rosenberg from Albuquerque-New Mexico, USA says: |
I am not affiliated with any braindump site. This is a discussion forum and I don't intend to abuse it. I have the right to ask any question related to the subject as well as observe the reality and hard facts outside our idealism. Personnaly, I have to master CCNA material anyway because I am in the CS 485 (Intro to Networks) at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. So, it is completely out of my mind to just memorize the questions and answers in order to get certified, in the end I will flunk CS485! The reason, I look at the dumpsites is just out of curiosity. I believe certification does not build a solid foundation for further studies. Experience and fundamental studies do. Why? Technology moves so fast that we need to upgrade our certification sooner or later. Otherwise it will become obsolete. William (CS Major at UNM-Albuquerque) |
| 2/9/04: Bill from US says: |
Thanks ITPro in Texas for bringing ethics into the conversation. It's hard to argue that there is any justification for dumping when you ackowledge the NDA before every test. But, if it makes you feel better about yourself..... The certification industry is just that - an industry. Vendors use it to create a support structure, just like the thousands of Ford dealerships across the US. There are many people with IT jobs in the US who feed their families from honestly trying to assist IT professionals learn the technologies and pass the exam. Besides devaluing the certs you acquire by cheating, you are helping to send these jobs overseas by giving your dollars to commercial dump providers. It may be slower, and I may fail a test here or there, but there is nothing wrong with learning the information required to pass a certification exam. I made the decision to acquire these certs, so why would I do it otherwise? I don't want to have a conversation with a collegue and have the depth of my knowledge contrast with the acronyms on my business cards. If you have invested time, effort, and money into certs - pray the guys that cheapen your rewards get run off in such a way that few will come to replace them. |
| 2/9/04: What a bunch of crap says: |
Brain dumps are illegal but Transcender isn't?!!! CertTimes--are you serious? Have you ever used Transcender; if not, I guarantee you that they are in fact brain dumps. Every time I need a quick cert, I get Transcender on my company's dime. I spend about 2 weeks "memorizing" the questions and PRESTO...I'm certified---what party gifts do we have for the contestants JACK!!!! Seriously folks, brain dumps, books, "official" training labs that want you to spend $2000-3000 in order to pass a darn test. I'm here to tell you that you all can spend 6 months or more and all your hard earned money studying for these stupid tests...but, in order for me to make a profit and get quick raises I just need the cert paperwork in my hand. Whatever gets me there the fastest is fine by me because then I can spend the rest of my time actually learning REAL STUFF!!! |
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