Three people have been arrested on suspicion of profiting from hacking into a test system to falsify exam results in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The suspects collected 174,000 yuan ($28,000) by falsifying test results for more than 300 candidates who took an exam for the national vocational qualification certification, Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.

A staff worker in charge of maintaining the exam system said he tried to recover data on Jan 4 after finding it had been hacked. However, the website was hacked again next day and became paralyzed. He reported the case to police on Jan 6.

One student who took the exam achieved a score of 133, but after paying the hackers 58,000 yuan, his result was changed to 354, Xinhua reported.

One of the three suspects graduated from a vocational school, and the other two looked for potential clients.

The three are suspected of illegally obtaining computer- system data and destroying computer information. They will face punishment in accordance with criminal law, the local procuratorate said.