Huang Xinyi, a 22-year-old master's student at Baptist University, was sentenced to three months in prison by the Tuen Mun Magistrates' Courts in Hong Kong on 2/2. She was accused of using a falsified English proficiency certificate to graduate from Lingnan University.

Court records indicate that Huang enrolled in Public Management and Administration at Lingnan University in 9/2022. A mandatory graduation requirement for her program was a minimum TOEFL score of 87 out of 120 or an IELTS score of 6,5.

Huang had attempted the TOEFL and IELTS exams four times, failing to meet the required scores on each occasion. Believing that taking the exam in Cambodia would be easier, she traveled there to register. However, feeling unwell upon arrival at the testing center, Huang paid 300 USD (approximately 7,8 million VND) to hire a proxy test-taker.

In 5/2024, Huang submitted her TOEFL results to Lingnan University via email. Upon receiving the score report and realizing the photograph was not hers, she edited it to resemble her before submission. However, university staff members noticed that the photograph on the certificate did not match her appearance, prompting them to request a meeting. Huang initially asserted she had taken the exam herself in Cambodia, but after the university's verification with the examination board, she confessed to hiring a proxy.

Huang Xinyi. Photo: Sing Tao Headlines.

Huang was arrested in 2/2025. Her lawyer revealed that she had previously faced disciplinary action from Lingnan University, which included community service. Notably, on her 5th attempt, she personally took the exam and achieved a score sufficient for graduation, demonstrating her own abilities.

Despite her eventual legitimate passing, the judge characterized the act of using falsified qualifications for graduation or employment as "qualification laundering," an offense deemed as serious as "money laundering." The three-month prison sentence was imposed as a deterrent.

During the same court session, Jia Peng, 24, a fellow student from the same department as Huang at Lingnan University, also received a three-month prison sentence for a similar offense: misrepresenting his TOEFL scores to graduate.