RICHMOND, VA. — Prospective and current graduate business students who used a website to cheat on entrance examinations over the past five years could have their scores thrown out.

The exam's publisher, the Graduate Management Admission Council, is tracking down users of Scoretop.com after winning a lawsuit to shut down the site and seize a computer hard drive containing payment information and user identifications.

Scoretop sold VIP access for $30 (U.S.) a month, giving users previews to current questions on the latest Graduate Management Admission Test. Some were posted by users after taking the exam.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema also ordered site operator Lei Shi to pay $2.35-million plus legal costs in a June 20 ruling in the copyright infringement lawsuit.

In court documents, GMAC cited a posting by a user who said the information offered on the site was "inestimable," saying he saw 10 to 12 "word by word" items and "many of the other questions felt very familiar."

About 6,000 GMAT scores from when the website started in 2003 to the present are in question, Judy Phair, GMAC spokeswoman, said yesterday. It is unclear how many test takers are involved because they can take the test several times a year.

"We have an ethical responsibility to schools and students to say this is a secure and fair test," Ms. Phair said. "Obviously, you're not being fair if you have an unfair advantage."

The council plans to match data with test takers and cancel the scores of anyone it determines knowingly used Scoretop to cheat on the GMAT. It will also notify the schools receiving scores and perhaps prevent them from retaking the test. Ms. Phair said she can't offer a timetable on the process.

Mr. Shi was not represented by an attorney, according to court documents. McLean, Va.-based GMAC said Mr. Shi has returned to his native China and could not be reached.

Business schools are trying to determine how they will handle cancelled scores, including those of students already enrolled in masters of business administration programs and those admitted for the fall term.

Robert Bruner, the dean of the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, wrote on his blog that Darden "will brook absolutely no cheating."

Melvin Stith, dean of the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, said most of the school's incoming MBA students have informed the school that they have not used Scoretop, but if GMAC discovers otherwise, the school will make them retake the GMAT.