The Real Estate Council of B.C. has suspended the licence of a Langley realtor who admitted that an imposter wrote his real estate licensing exam.

According to an order posted on the council's website, Ryan Rana admitted he didn't take the test himself after he was confronted with a discrepancy between a passport photo shown at the exam and the photograph on his website.

"During that phone call Ryan Rana admitted that he did not write the licensing examination and that someone else had written it for him," the order reads.

A ringer for Rana?

The council obtained an order "in urgent circumstances" suspending Rana's license and that of his personal real estate corporation ahead of a full disciplinary hearing.

According to the RECBC's website, someone claiming to be Rana first attempted to take the Sauder School of Business Real Estate Trading Services licensing examination on Nov. 26, 2015.

The "person claiming to be Ryan Rana" at that time presented a B.C. drivers license and an admission ticket to write the exam which had a passport photo attached.

But because the two photographs did not appear to match, the ringer was not allowed to write the exam.

Four days later, an affidavit was provided to the school with yet another picture attached to swear Rana was the person shown in the driver's licence.

On that basis, someone claiming to be Ryan Rana was allowed to write the exam two weeks later, passing with a score of 90 per cent.

Rana obtained his licence in February.

But according to the council, in early April, officials noticed that "the photos of Ryan Rana on his website advertising real estate services appeared to show a different person than the passport-sized photos that were attached to the affidavit and the examination admission ticket."

A council investigation led investigators to a person who had "liked" a number of Rana's Instagram posts. Images shown on that person's Facebook page allegedly matched the pictures of the ringer who wrote the exam in Rana's name.

"The committee determined that Ryan Rana acted in a deceptive manner," the order reads.

"When he arranged for someone to write the licensing examination for himself, he deceived the council by not complying with its educational requirements, deprived the public of the protections created by those requirements and acted in a manner that was detrimental and contrary to the public interest."

According to the order, Rana's managing broker surrendered Rana's licence earlier this month.

Rana could not be reached for comment.

Read the Real Estate Council of B.C. order