What the providers say
Between them, IDP's UAE pages, the British Council's UAE pages and ielts.org's test-security page warn readers about anyone who offers to sell an IELTS certificate, results or test papers, or who says they can get you a higher score. This page sets out what each source says, how an organisation can check a result, and what to do if you are approached. It accuses no business or person.
| Source | What it says |
|---|---|
| IDP UAE, scams page | Anyone claiming to sell you an IELTS certificate is trying to scam you. If a fake certificate is used, the results will be rejected and the person might be reported to authorities. |
| British Council UAE, fraud awareness | Do not trust anyone who says they can get you a higher score; they are most likely trying to defraud or scam you. |
| British Council UAE, booking page | Opens with a notice to candidates to be cautious of scammers offering fake certificates. |
| ielts.org, test security | Do not trust anyone trying to sell IELTS results or test papers. |
Read on 24 October 2026. Providers change their pages, so open the links and read the current wording before you act on anything here.
Can you buy an IELTS certificate, results or a higher score?
IDP UAE's page answers the first part directly: anyone claiming to sell you an IELTS certificate is trying to scam you. The same page gives an example of an advert headline to watch for, “Buy IELTS without giving exam”, and says an offer like that is nothing but a scam.
The British Council UAE's fraud-awareness page covers the last part: do not trust anyone who tells you they can get you a higher score, because they are most likely trying to defraud or scam you. ielts.org's test-security page makes a matching point about goods: do not trust anyone trying to sell IELTS results or test papers. The British Council UAE's booking page opens with a short notice warning candidates to be cautious of scammers offering fake certificates. All three sources warn against the person making such an offer.
The reasoning in this paragraph is ours, not the providers'. An IELTS result records a test you have sat and had marked. A certificate sold without that test, or a way of skipping the test, is not a result at all, however convincing the document looks.
Also general advice rather than the providers' wording: look at the shape of an offer rather than its exact wording. Each of these matches one of the warnings in the table above:
- a certificate offered for sale;
- IELTS “without giving exam”, the example headline on IDP UAE's page, or a close variation of it;
- results or test papers offered for sale;
- a promise that someone can get you a higher score.
General advice, not from the providers. Treat any promise of a particular score as a reason to stop and ask questions. A teacher can help you prepare, but the band on your result comes from the test you sit.
What IDP UAE says can happen if a fake certificate is used
IDP UAE says that if you use a fake certificate, your results will be rejected and you might be reported to authorities. That is IDP UAE's statement. This page does not describe what any particular organisation or authority would do in a given case, and it gives no legal advice. The risk IDP UAE describes falls on the person who uses the certificate.
How organisations check a Test Report Form
IDP UAE says organisations can use the IELTS Online Verification Service to quickly and securely verify whether any Test Report Form (TRF) received from applicants is genuine. In other words, an organisation that receives a TRF from an applicant has a way to ask whether it is real.
Two points about the limits of what this page says. First, the service lets an organisation ask whether a TRF it has received is genuine; whether a particular organisation uses it is for that organisation to say. Second, this page does not explain how a candidate can use the service for their own result, because the IDP UAE sentence it relies on is about organisations. Ask the provider you booked with if you want to know. For how the providers describe viewing results, TRF copies and remarks, see IELTS results in the UAE.
If you are approached: what to do
IDP UAE encourages anyone being approached to buy IELTS results or TRFs to report it to IELTS immediately. Its page publishes a security email address for this, which we have not copied here; go to the page itself for the current contact.
- Do not trust the offer. The British Council UAE and ielts.org both say not to trust anyone who promises a higher score or tries to sell results or test papers.
- Report it to IELTS, as IDP UAE encourages, using the contact published on that page.
General advice, not from the providers:
- Keep the evidence. Save the advert or message and the sender's details before they disappear, so that your report has something to point to.
- Send no money and no identity documents to anyone making one of these offers.
- Start from the provider, not from the message. For test registration and results, go to IDP's or the British Council's own website by typing the address yourself, rather than following a link in an advert or a chat message.
Where a tutor fits, and where Band Booster stands
Band Booster IELTS is a private one-to-one online tutor, not a test centre. Mike teaches every session himself, live on Google Meet in English, from Hanoi, Vietnam. He holds the Cambridge CELTA (July 2017) and scored 8.5 in Speaking in his own IELTS. See about Mike.
| What Band Booster does | What it does not do |
|---|---|
| One-to-one lessons on Google Meet, with feedback during the session | Register you for the IELTS test, or set test fees or dates |
| Speaking practised in the real three-part format; Writing Task 1 and Task 2 marked against the public band descriptors | Issue, sell or alter an IELTS result or certificate |
| Written progress notes after each session, in your account | Promise or guarantee any band, outcome or timeline |
A lesson is practice with a teacher. It is not an IELTS test and it produces no IELTS result. Progress depends on your starting point and on the work you do between sessions. See IELTS Speaking coaching and IELTS Writing feedback; those pages are written for Vietnam, so ignore their prices. If you are comparing tutors, how to choose an online IELTS tutor lists questions worth asking. The booking page shows your price in your own currency, and the payment options, before you pay.
What this page does not cover. It does not say how common these scams are, accuses no business or person, describes no law or penalty beyond IDP UAE's own sentence, and gives no legal or visa advice. It reports what IDP UAE, the British Council UAE and ielts.org say, as read on 24 October 2026.
Related pages for the UAE
For the test venues the providers list, emirate by emirate, see IELTS test venues across the UAE. For lessons from the UAE, see online IELTS tutoring in Dubai and the UAE, or online IELTS tutoring by country. You register for the test with a test provider, not with a tutor: Band Booster does not register candidates.