Another day, another cheating scandal at Baruch College.
The CUNY school last week shut down a tax-preparation program for accounting students after The Post inquired about the possible sale of answers to a recent certification test.
Hundreds of students interested in the prestigious Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program — in which aspiring accountants polish their résumés by providing tax advice to the needy — received an e-mail on Jan. 25 offering exam answers for $15.
The e-mail address of the sender bore the name of Ke Jiang, a Baruch student and president of the campus VITA program, but there was no evidence it actually came from her.
A student who received the e-mail shared it with The Post.
“Whoever did this needs to be expelled,” said the whistle-blower, who requested anonymity. “I was beyond angry. There should be zero tolerance for this type of corruption.”
The IRS sponsors the VITA program, which drew 1,200 applicants last tax season for only 176 slots. To be chosen, students first take a “pre-test” and then a four-day course and must pass a “post test.” before they can be certified to do tax returns for people earning less than $51,000.
The first shady e-mail — the subject line reads “happy holidays from vita *little gift inside*” — came on Dec. 16 from the account baruch-vita@mail.com and gave correct answers to the pretest.
Three days later, students got a message from Ke Jiang’s account claiming that the previous e-mail did not come from VITA and that “this individual’s actions are a gross violation of the Baruch College Academic Honesty policy. This kind of cheating strikes at the core values of Baruch VITA and will not be tolerated.”
The Jan. 25 e-mail offering answers to the post-test arrived with this message: “Price is as follows: Exact POST-TEST exam questions ONLY will be $5. Solution to the entire POST-TEST exam will be $15.”
Officials say they are investigating.
That email came from ke.jiang@ymail.com. There is no evidence at this time that this email account actually belongs to Jiang. It was soon followed by another email from Jiang’s VITA account.
“I am deeply apologetic that this person has tormented not only myself and the rest of the VITA team, but have brought much trouble to you as well,” the sender wrote.
Jiang did not respond to requests for comment. But a fellow VITA member defended her, saying it’s obvious her name was hijacked by an imposter.
“She’s a pretty honest person,” said Gina Helewa.
While the writer of the emails remains a mystery, the answers offered for the first test were real. Whether students used those answers — or purchased answers for the second test — are among the questions Baruch administrators are now investigating.
“We are temporarily suspending the program until further notice,” said spokeswoman Christina Latouf. “The investigation is ongoing.”
VITA prepared taxes for 6,500 New Yorkers last year. The group’s Facebook page boasts it helped secure its clients $8 million in refunds and savings.
Cheating could allow unqualified tax-preparers into the program and jeopardize innocent taxpayers.
“It’s not a victimless crime,” said the whistle-blower. “These are unsuspecting people. If they file incorrectly, or if there are misstatements on their return, there could be possible penalties from the IRS.”
Baruch has been plagued by cheating. Chris Koutsoutis, an administrator at its Zicklin School of Business, pleaded guilty in December to forging signatures to raise failing students’ grades. And last June, four former students revealed to the Post that a professor provided students with answers during an exam.