Police found a hidden earpiece and a camera connected to a concealed mobile phone during searches after a theory test in Bilbao. Officers said the phone sent answer information through vibrations.
One candidate needed medical care after pushing the earpiece further into his ear while trying to remove it. Medical staff extracted it with specialised instruments.
The searches took place after two officers noticed the candidates’ behaviour during the exam. When it ended, they took both men to an adjoining room at the test centre on Barroeta Aldamar Street and searched them. One had the earpiece; the other had a camera wired to a phone hidden against his sweatshirt, with a small hole in the fabric for the cable.
The two men, aged 24 and 26, were arrested. Police said they had bought the equipment from a person in Bilbao for €1,500. Their case concerns exam fraud. A separate driving-related penalty in Madrid involved a taxi passenger who paid €100 after a seat-belt citation, described in the Madrid taxi case.
Police said this type of conduct carries a €500 financial penalty and a six-month ban on sitting the exam. The use of unauthorised intercommunication devices is classified as a very serious infringement under Article 77.u of Spain’s Traffic Law. The exam sitting is invalidated. The administrative fine and six-month exclusion are handled separately, and the exclusion period begins when the administrative sanction becomes final.
A similar case was reported in Zamora on 11 November 2026, when the Guardia Civil’s Traffic Investigation and Analysis Group (GIAT) seized five devices from a Class B driving-test candidate. The haul included two mobile phones and a disguised microcamera, along with a Bluetooth unit and a micro-earpiece. Police said the equipment was set up to let someone outside the examination room transmit answers. The candidate was excluded from that sitting and faced the same potential €500 fine and six-month restriction.
When exam fraud also involves taking a test in another person’s name, Article 392 of the Criminal Code may bring criminal penalties also to administrative sanctions. The reported penalties are six months to three years in prison and a fine calculated over six to twelve months.
