[TOEFL Cheating] Not Even Kim Jong Un Could Keep This South Korean Client Out of the Ivy League: How She Paid Someone to Take the TOEFL Home Edition and Went to Her Dream School🇰🇷🦄

Before and after: a Korea TOEFL client stressed by the Upbit hack, then celebrating an Ivy League acceptance — Before and after: the Upbit hack on the left, an Ivy League offer and a 110+ on the right.

Right as Soo-jin went to pay her deposit for us to take the TOEFL for her, Upbit, South Korea's largest crypto exchange, was hit by a roughly $30 million hack that Korean authorities have blamed on North Korea's Lazarus Group(under the leadership of the Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un 😂). Upbit paused deposits and withdrawals of the affected coins while it moved funds to cold storage. That held up her payment for a few days.

She sorted it out, sat the exam, and scored a strong TOEFL result, a solid 110+. A few months later she came back to say she'd been accepted to an Ivy League university and needed help with one more exam. Here's the result, then the full story:

Soo-jin's TOEFL score breakdown and testimonial shared in chat — Her score, and the testimonial she sent afterwards.

Chat message: the client says she was accepted to an Ivy League university and needs help with a placement test — And months later, the message that opened act two: an Ivy League acceptance, and one more test to take.

This is a start-to-finish look at what it takes to pay someone to take the TOEFL at home, a full TOEFL Home Edition proxy-test case study with screenshots: the deposit freeze, a laptop she had to replace, some remote-login trouble, and a Speaking section she wasn't sure about. It wasn't all smooth, which is why it's worth writing down. Let's start from her first message.

For privacy, the client's name and the exact dates have been changed. "December 9" below is a stand-in, not her real exam date.

"Is this even safe?"

She opened with the question everyone opens with: "Hi, is TOEFL available? For 110+." Korea. Before anything else I sent her our scam-safety links (there are a lot of scammers out there) and explained, plainly, how the TOEFL Home Edition bypass actually works:

We have software that can bypass detection of any third-party online proctoring. You register for the date and time we agree on; before test day you run a lightweight, disposable script that lets us temporarily take control of your computer. We test-run everything first (network speed, compatibility), and on the day you just watch us take the test for you.

First contact, Soo-jin asks if TOEFL is available for 110+ — First contact, and how it works, explained up front: "is TOEFL available? For 110+"

The deal and the deposit

Here's the core of a TOEFL proxy test: a guaranteed score band across Reading, Listening and Writing. Pricing is tiered by the total you need on those three (Speaking is priced on its own, since you're the one speaking), with a 50% deposit and crypto-only payment. The next slot was December 9, and she wanted it done as soon as possible. She registered the exam herself and sent me a screenshot of the appointment. That part was straightforward.

Target score, location and pricing — The deal: Korea, 110+, tiered pricing, 50% deposit.

Client registers and screenshots the appointment — She books her own exam and screenshots it.

Paying took a few extra days. Right after the hack, Upbit blocked USDC deposits, and Korea's rules only let you withdraw to verified recipients under a set limit. She was a little short of the 2,000 she owed. MetaMask wouldn't take her Korean card for the network fee. We'd seen the same thing with another Korean client, so we did what worked then: move her funds to her own MetaMask wallet first, then pay us from there.

USDC deposit blocked on Upbit — "USDC deposit is blocked on Upbit."

Korean exchange withdrawal restrictions — Korea's verified-recipient withdrawal rule.

She still needed a little Ethereum to cover gas and couldn't get it in time, so I sent her some myself. The first transaction went pending, so we cancelled and resent it:

Daisy: Received 2000 just now.
Soo-jin: Yeah that's me.

Ethereum transaction pending — The first transfer stalled, so we resent it.

Deposit finally received — Deposit received.

Buying a new laptop

The prep list is strict about the machine: a recent laptop with a fast processor, no tablets. She asked whether her old low-end laptop would do. It wouldn't, so she ordered a new one that met the spec. Her connection was fast enough on the download, but we needed the upload solid too, so she sorted that. Then we set up the remote-control software, which took a couple of tries to log in.

Laptop requirements — The machine requirements we send over.

Discussing laptop specs — She sorts out a compliant laptop.

Upgrading internet speed — Checking her connection speed.

Second cameras, and how it's handled

Two things were new to her. First, the second camera, the phone-as-side-camera check. "I didn't know that they made us do the second camera lol." We sent the training document and walked her through the angle. Second, how Speaking and the essay are handled on our end. Each has its own method, set up during the test-run and invisible to the proctor. We keep the exact mechanics to ourselves, but on the day it's simple for you: for Speaking you do the talking, for the essay you just follow along, and we take care of the rest.

TOEFL training document — The bilingual training document.

Second-camera placement guidance — Getting the phone / second-camera angle right.

Speaking-section support — Speaking: we guide it, she does the talking.

Essay handled on our end — The essay: we handle it, she follows along.

The "canceled" exam

Setting up the day before, I noticed the last exam on her ETS account was marked canceled, so I asked about it. She'd cancelled it herself, because she wasn't happy with the score and didn't want a weak result on her record. That's the right call: a clean account with no low scores is the best position to be in.

Soo-jin: I didn't satisfied with the score, that's why.
Daisy: Smart move. It's best if there's no score record on the account.

Chat: asking why the last exam was marked canceled; she says she cancelled it herself — Asking about the canceled exam. She'd cancelled it herself.

Exam day

December 9, 9am KST. We checked her screen, the setup, and the second camera. My only note for the live sections: "act like you're genuinely thinking things through." It went fine. Right after it ended, she messaged:

Soo-jin: I think I fucked my speaking section loll… couldn't read all of the passage you gave.
Daisy: As long as your pronunciation is clear and you get through most of the answers, it's usually fine.

Exam-day screen and setup check — Final checks: screen, setup, second camera.

Client worried about the speaking section — Right after the test: "I think I messed up my speaking."

With the test done, she paid the remaining balance, and we waited for the scores.

Settling the remaining balance in USDC — Balance paid.

The result

About ten days later I asked if the scores were in. "I got it." A strong total score, a solid 110+. She was happy with it, and the Speaking she'd worried about was fine.

Score report shared, a strong TOEFL score of 110+ — "I got it." A strong score, a solid 110+.

What she wrote about us

When I asked for a testimonial, she wrote one in English and then in Korean:

"Thank you very much. Everything was done safely, and I'm very happy that I also achieved the score that I was aiming for. At first, I was not sure if this could work, but I'm very happy to know that it could work very well. There's a saying that scores change lives, and it was Daisy who saved me when I felt like I was stuck in a big obstacle. Thank you very much."

"정말 감사합니다. 모든 것이 무사히 끝났고, 목표했던 점수도 달성해서 매우 기쁩니다… 점수가 인생을 바꾼다는 말이 있는데, 큰 장애물에 갇힌 것 같았을 때 저를 구해준 사람은 데이지였습니다. 정말 감사합니다."

Soo-jin's testimonial in Korean — Her testimonial, in her own words. She posted it to Reddit and Trustpilot too.

Epilogue: she got into the Ivy League and came back

A few months later, a new message: "Hi, I got accepted to an Ivy League university and I need to take a placement essay test, do you help with this too?" We did. I'll keep the school's name private, but going from "is this even safe?" to a place at one of the eight Ivy League universities is about as good as this kind of thing gets.

The placement test was a timed essay under Proctorio, so the setup was a little different, but the idea was the same: she followed our lead and we handled the writing. It came out clean in one pass:

Soo-jin: Wow you are so good… I'm kinda worried the essay was written in once like perfectly.
Daisy: He wrote 760 words, which is pretty solid.

Handling the placement essay on our end — Same idea as the TOEFL: we handle it, she follows along.

A polished 760-word essay — A clean 760-word essay in one pass.

Settling the fee including the Proctorio surcharge — Settling up (Proctorio setup carries a small surcharge).

The result: 9 out of 10. On a 10-point scale, that's a very good score.

Placement essay test result, 9 out of 10 — "Got 9 on the test." Out of 10.

Looking back

Soo-jin's job had a few bumps: the exchange froze deposits, a laptop had to be swapped, the remote software needed a couple of tries, and she wasn't sure about her Speaking. None of it changed the outcome. She got her score, got into her university, and came back for a second test.

She'd already written us a heartfelt testimonial, but when we followed up asking for her email to send a formal review invite, she'd rather not. She wanted to keep this private, and we didn't push. Given what we do, wanting that discretion is completely fair, and we'd never argue with it.

Following up for a review; she preferred to keep it private — We followed up for a formal review. She'd rather keep it private, and that's fine by us.