John (not his real name) – a healthcare student – called me in a panic on Friday, explaining that, like many of his course mates, he had paid a third party to write his 3,000-word essay.
After a quick search on Google, he had found an essay-writing company and paid £300, and a few days later, John received the work along with reassuring Turnitin and AI reports.
Shortly after receiving the essay, the essay company emailed John to say there was a problem — the Department for Education had contacted them about the essay’s copyright and initiated a formal investigation, which involved notification of John’s course tutors. The company forwarded the Department for Education’s email, which came from an @education.gov.uk address and referred to John’s tutors by name.
Alarmed, John asked the company for assistance, and it suggested “registering the copyright”, offering to do so on his behalf by enrolling the copyright, registering it under the Department for Education, and attending a meeting to represent him. If done promptly and correctly, this would close the matter and John’s name would be cleared of any academic misconduct or wrongdoing.
John asked how much it would cost – £1,200 – and replied that he could not afford this.
It was then that he called me for advice, not having yet submitted the essay but extremely nervous and ready to pay to make the problem disappear.
I warned him that, once paid, the company may simply ask for more — I have seen this before, where the company pretends that it did not receive the full amount or conjures up some bogus reason to claim more.
Another popular option for students is to call their bluff and do nothing, which can lead the company to tip off the university anonymously, with severe consequences for the student – I have written on Wonkhe about such a case.
Playing along
As we discussed next steps, the company emailed John suggesting that he obtain a loan or borrow the money, reducing the fee to £1,000 and asking if they should send bank details. I advised him to agree, knowing those bank details might help our plan.
The next day, the company provided bank details, asking for payment “as soon as possible” – and this was my cue.
I sent a formal letter, written in my capacity as John’s legal counsel, referring to their bank details and citing fraud-related offences, breaches of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, and breach of the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022.
I gave them 24 hours to confirm that they will cease contact with John immediately, failing which I would escalate the matter to the relevant law enforcement agencies without further notice.
Three hours later, the company responded with unconvincing defences and agreed to drop the case.
What’s different here
John’s case contained similar features to others – targeting students on Friday and over the weekend when help is harder to obtain, causing fear with threats of academic misconduct – but what was different here was the creation of a fictitious scenario, a copyright scenario involving the Department for Education, in which the company pretended to be on the student’s side, seeking to resolve the problem.
They were not the enemy, but a friend – a change from the usual, more aggressive tactics of essay-writing companies, although it still caused significant distress to John and almost worked, as he came close to paying.
At one point, he considered “coming clean” to his university, but as his lawyer, I dissuaded him from this, as it would probably have resulted in an investigation, a finding of academic misconduct – attempting to cheat – and a sanction.
The bigger problem
As a barrister, it is not for me to judge John’s conduct, but what troubles me is John’s candid admission that many students on his healthcare course, which is patient-facing, used essay-writing companies.
Other clients have also told me of the widespread, and mostly undetected, use of AI – the epidemic of cheating is, in my opinion, one of the most serious, yet neglected, threats facing higher education.
I hope this article will add to the literature on the devious and evolving tactics of essay-writing companies, assist future students in John’s predicament, and prompt universities to do more to tackle the growing problem of academic misconduct.
Thank you to “John” for allowing me to write about his story so that others may learn from it.
It’s worth mentioning that where a student has access to a Student Union advice service, independent, confidential and often expert guidance can be provided free of charge. (It’s also worth saying that it’s doubtful a sanction would be applied where a piece of work hasn’t been submitted for credit. The SU -where available- can advise on an institution’s own academic misconduct policies.)
But SUs don’t tend to promote those services, so students in a panic might not actually think about their SU, especially if they don’t have much interaction with it beyond the hospitality side, and head for google instead. Looking at the SU websites for the unis I’ve attended (one RG, one post-92), there is no ‘I have a problem’ button prominent – the academic support section is tucked away in a more general help and support section in the menu tabs. When you get there the language is more formal than reassuring and contact is through a form with no… Read more »
Note this was a healthcare student with professional conduct obligations aligned with regulatory body requirements. Intending to cheat is still worrying unprofessional behaviour. I would expect a sanction albeit not one with catastrophic consequences
Thank you for your comment, Jenny G. We regularly advise students to contact the Student Union for free advice. In this case, however, the student needed to respond quickly, the SU would have been closed over the weekend, and a letter from the SU (if the SU agreed to write on the student’s behalf, which is doubtful) may not have had the same chilling effect on the crooks as one coming from a lawyer. Also, the SU would not have been able to advise John on the law. In my experience, students in John’s situation can be uncertain about the… Read more »