"It's possible. You'll get a 'perfect score.' And if there are any wrong answers, we'll put together an appeal for you."
When a Seoul Economic Daily reporting team inquired on the 8th about a post advertising assignment and exam proxy services for the Credit Bank System on the secondhand trading platform Bunjang, this was the immediate reply. Asked whether online proxy exams were also possible, the operator explained, "If you send the questions as photos, we'll solve them and deliver just the answers within about 20 minutes." Many of the posts led with the term "consulting" instead of "proxy service," seemingly to avoid sanctions from authorities or the platform. But the actual transactions were geared toward taking assessments on someone else's behalf.
Services that not only write assignments but also take online exams on behalf of students continue to thrive on secondhand trading platforms around the final exam period for Credit Bank System remote courses, it has been found. According to Seoul Economic Daily's reporting, as of that day, the cost for proxy work on a three-page assignment in a humanities and social sciences course was generally in the range of 30,000 won. For exams, one operator offered a "consulting" price of 43,000 won for providing answers, advertising that "grades average a perfect score or one wrong answer."
The proxy methods went beyond simply filling out the required length. Some operators required not only basic information such as the course name and topic but also the client's age range, gender, and personal experiences. The reason given was that descriptions tailored to individual characteristics were necessary to receive a grade of A or higher. Some posts also included phrases guaranteeing artificial intelligence (AI) similarity of less than 15 percent and citation of three or more references. Another operator emphasized that not only graduates of prestigious universities but also professionals with qualifications such as lawyers and accountants would write the drafts, which would then undergo plagiarism and imitation-rate checks. Review sites they disclosed carried dozens of conversations such as "The report was of such high quality that I got a note from the professor in charge" and "They did well on my midterm and I got a perfect score."
In education circles, there are observations that the market for assignment and exam proxy work in the Credit Bank System is surviving after crackdowns by merely changing its channels. The Credit Bank System is a scheme that allows people to obtain degrees at the associate level or higher without attending university. However, given the large proportion of non-face-to-face and online assessments, questions have repeatedly been raised about the difficulty of verifying whether learners themselves have actually completed assignments and exams.
The National Institute for Lifelong Education (NILE), the entrusted operating body of the Credit Bank System, said it will take stern action, including filing complaints with investigative agencies, if concrete evidence is secured. A NILE official said, "Assignment proxy work is clearly a problematic matter," adding, "If related evidence is confirmed, we plan to continue filing complaints." The official stressed, "Even when we ask operators to take down posts, there have been cases where they disappear briefly and then resume operations," and, "To show that the institution will not stand idly by, we will respond actively."
Bunjang said, "We have deleted 50 academic-related products, including assignment and exam proxy services for the Credit Bank System, and applied search-term restrictions," and, "We will impose sanctions through our own monitoring going forward."
