Graduate Management Admissions Council, the official administrator of the GMAT exam, invalidated the scores of 133 students for using unethical techniques in a massive crackdown. The majority of the candidates (108) are from India, with the remainder being from North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Over 7,000 international management programs at 2,300 graduate business schools, including Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, Tuck School of Business, and Indian School of Business, rely on the GMAT exam.

GMAC officials told the TOI that they are cooperating with the law enforcement authorities in India who are investigating a cheating ring that was apprehended by Delhi police in January where their internal investigation found 133 cases of cheating.

In addition to their scores being canceled, the candidates have been barred from testing with GMAC in the future, and any past exam scores have also been canceled. GMAC has identified examples of test security infractions for both the home-based GMAT and at test centers, according to the company. The Council has compelling evidence to cancel these scores for policy violations, notably proxy test taking (having someone else take the test on the candidate’s behalf), according to Ashok Sarathy, Vice President, of product Management Operations, GMAC.

While there have been sporadic instances of violations and score cancellations in the past, this is the first time that such a huge number of breaches have been discovered. “We will continue to adapt as technology and methodologies improve to guarantee that schools retain confidence in the legitimacy of exam scores,” Sarathy added