Two West African countries, Ghana and Nigeria, have developed more advanced methods for detecting admissions application fraud among potential college students. A large part of this ongoing problem has stemmed from the number of applications that universities receive from students in other countries, though it certainly is not limited to international students.

The various types of fraud include the claim of false language abilities, the use of text that has been copied from other types of documents, and forged education history or other qualifications. Sometimes the incidents of fraud are much more serious, involving stolen identity or the impersonation of another individual.

The reasons that students are doing this, range from trying to obtain financial assistance that they would otherwise not be qualified for, to trying to gain acceptance into a program of study that is beyond their reach. In more alarming instances, human trafficking has been found to be the reason for fraudulent admissions applications.

University officials throughout West Africa have been increasingly concerned about these practices for a host of reasons. Application fraud damages the reputations of universities, and it also prevents qualified students from having access to an education that they might otherwise be able to have. In addition, the end result of these fraudulent applications is that a great deal of money is wasted bringing new students into schools who simply cannot handle the work once they are enrolled in classes.

As part of their intensified efforts to reduce the instances of application fraud throughout West Africa, university officials in Ghana and Nigeria have developed more sophisticated fraud detecting tools. They are using a scratch-card system that is sent to students along with an admissions application. Once received, students scratch the card to reveal a pin number that has a single use, as well as a serial number. These numbers can then be used to verify or access a particular student’s exam records online.

European officials have been so impressed with this system that they are discussing the implementation of a similar system in their own universities. In fact, some of the officials from various European universities have met with representatives from Ghana and Nigeria in an effort to gain additional information about the scratch-card system. Many of these people believe that such a fraud detecting system could be used with their own current fraud detecting methods to create a much more efficient system throughout Europe.

The European countries that seem to be the most interested in acquiring an advanced method for detecting application fraud include Germany and Sweden. Officials throughout the United Kingdom have also expressed an interest in learning more about the scratch-card system to increase the success rate of their own fraud detectors. This unique way of screening for application fraud could help to streamline the way fraud detection is done throughout Europe, helping those countries to adopt one simple system that is used by all.