It has come to my attention that a participant in a recent CodeForces contest Codeforces Round 970 (Div. 3) may have engaged in cheating by having a higher-rated user submit solutions on their behalf. This behavior not only violates the spirit of fair competition but also undermines the integrity of the platform. I believe it is important to bring this to light with the evidence I have gathered.
The Evidence
During Contest Codeforces Round 970 (Div. 3), user aryxn5 achieved a significantly higher rank than usual. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the solution submitted for Problem A (and other problems) was identical to that of another user sparsh_16, who has a considerably higher rating and experience in competitive programming.
The suspicious points are as follows:
- Both users submitted the exact same solution for multiple problems although sparsh_16 submitted after the contest but we can check solution submitted by aryxn5 during the contest , the coding style exactly matches to the other submissions done by sparsh_16.
- Skipped Submissions: In the last contest Codeforces Round 967 (Div. 2), aryxn5 skipped several problem submissions 277418677.
- I also think they might have had a previous connection, as aryxn5 replied to him in comment
Comparison of Solutions
Problem A
sparsh_16 Submission: 279230315
Problem E
sparsh_16 Submission: 279229646
you can also check the remaining submission in the Codeforces Round 970 (Div. 3)
Conclusion
It is really disheartening to see higher rated players just giving contest of other people just for fun as those contests are unrated for them.
