Driving test scammers charging thousands to help learners cheat system with lookalikes and Bluetooth headsets

Criminal gangs are using social media to advertise illegal help to cheat the driving test system.

Services including TikTok, Instagram and Facebook are hosting hundreds of adverts, groups and sites claiming to offer ways for learners to cheat on their test or even obtain a licence without sitting any test at all. 

Some offer lookalikes to sit tests for candidates while others say they can provide real-time answers to theory test questions as the learner sits the test. 

An investigation by the BBC Verify service found that there were 669 pages, groups and accounts with almost 140,000 followers across Facebook and TikTok all offering ways for learners to cheat their way to obtaining a driving licence. 

Pass rates for theory and practical tests are both below 50% and learners face waits of up to six months to secure a driving test in some parts of the UK, increasing pressure to pass first time. The head of the Driving Instructors Association, Carly Brookfield, said that faced with the prospect of a six-month wait for a resit some drivers were bound to think about cheating the system. 

£2,600 for a lookalike

The adverts which appear across social media in a variety of languages offer to help drivers obtain a licence, often without having to sit any test at all, but without providing details of how they do it. They often don’t mention costs either but the BBC found fraudsters charging as much as £4,200 for their illegal services.

Last year a separate study found desperate learners were being charged up to £200 for a driving test slot by third-party groups who were block booking then reselling appointments.

One scammer who the BBC team met said for a £1,500 fee he could help learners cheat the theory test using a Bluetooth headset. By the candidate using the “read aloud” option on the questions, the scammer could listen to the questions and feed them the correct answers via the earpiece. He claimed to help two people a day cheat using this method. 

Another advertising on Facebook claimed he could supply a full UK driving licence and pass certificate within five days for £720 without anyone having to sit a test. 

In one instance uncovered by the BBC a woman offered to use an imposter to sit the theory or practical test for clients. She told investigators that sending a stand-in to sit the theory test would cost £1,600 while a practical test would be £2,600

According to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) which oversees driving tests, the number of cases of reported candidate imposters has trebled since 2018, to more than 2,000 in 2023. 

Offenders can be jailed for impersonating a driving test candidate and last year a woman was sentenced to eight months in prison for sitting 150 theory and practical driving tests for other people. 

Since April 2022 there have been 53 arrests linked to driving test fraud and 30 cases of fraud by false representation have been referred for prosecution, covering a total of 497 offences.

However, the DVSA’s head of law enforcement, Marian Kitson, admitted that it was hard to gauge the true scale of the problem due to the way the crooks operated online, frequently moving and changing adverts. 

She told the BBC: "The internet is so huge; the social media platforms are vast and these people are very clever, they move the adverts around; they change them frequently. So actually, spotting them and taking action quickly is a real challenge."

The DVSA's chief executive Loveday Ryder said the body had taken numerous steps to address the long waiting times, including recruiting new examiners and bringing back recently retired staff as well as extending staff overtime to offer more tests in evenings and weekends. She added: “Following the pandemic, we know many learners have waited a long time to take their driving test, so alongside other measures, we’ve recruited almost 500 examiners and are currently recruiting more to help provide more tests.

“Learners should only take their driving test if they are completely ready to pass. We strongly urge learners to use our Ready to Pass? Checklist and make sure they’ve had enough lessons so they can drive safely and are ready to pass their test first time.”