Cheating, Inc.: How Writing Papers for American College Students Has Become a Lucrative Profession Overseas

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

I received a notification on my school account that tomorrow is:

Int’l Day of Action Against Contract Cheating – October 19​

I had never heard of this so I looked it up and found this explanation (and story)

Contract cheating is a form of academic dishonesty in which students pay others to complete their coursework. The term was coined in a 2006 study by Thomas Lancaster[1] and the late Robert Clarke (UK),[2][3][4][5] as a more inclusive way to talk about all forms of academic work, as opposed to more outdated terms such as "term paper mill" or "essay mill", which refer to text-based academic outsourcing. In contrast, Lancaster and Clarke are computer scientists who found evidence of students systematically outsourcing coding assignments. Hence, they coined the term "contract cheating" to include all outsourced academic work, regardless of whether it is from text-based or non-text-based disciplines.
Contract cheating - Wikipedia​

“This is cheating,” she said. “But do you have a choice? We have to make money. We have to make a living.”

I am slightly disgusted by why they claim they have to do this

By Farah Stockman and Carlos Mureithi​

Sept. 7, 2019

​

Tuition was due. The rent was, too. So Mary Mbugua, a university student in Nyeri, Kenya, went out in search of a job. At first, she tried selling insurance policies, but that only paid on commission and she never sold one. Then she sat behind the reception desk at a hotel, but it ran into financial trouble.​

​

Finally, a friend offered to help her break into “academic writing,” a lucrative industry in Kenya that involves doing school assignments online for college students in the United States, Britain and Australia. Ms. Mbugua felt conflicted.​

“This is cheating,” she said. “But do you have a choice? We have to make money. We have to make a living.”​

​

Since federal prosecutors charged a group of rich parents and coaches this year in a sprawling fraud and bribery scheme, the advantages that wealthy American students enjoy in college admissions have been scrutinized. Less attention has been paid to the tricks some well-off students use to skate by once they are enrolled.​

​

Cheating in college is nothing new, but the internet now makes it possible on a global, industrial scale. Sleek websites — with names like Ace-MyHomework and EssayShark — have sprung up that allow people in developing countries to bid on and complete American homework assignments.​

​

Although such businesses have existed for more than a decade, experts say demand has grown in recent years as the sites have become more sophisticated, with customer service hotlines and money-back guarantees. The result? Millions of essays ordered annually in a vast, worldwide industry that provides enough income for some writers to make it a full-time job.​

​

The essay-for-hire industry has expanded significantly in developing countries with many English speakers, fast internet connections and more college graduates than jobs, especially Kenya, India and Ukraine. A Facebook group for academic writers in Kenya has over 50,000 members.​

continue story here: Cheating, Inc.: How Writing Papers for American College Students Has Become a Lucrative Profession Overseas (Published 2019)​

 

[MaryL]

Great post .

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

Great post .

Thank you MaryL

 

[Canon Shooter]

Um, I really don't believe that writing a college paper for someone else and getting paid for it is illegal...

 

[White 6]

Um, I really don't believe that writing a college paper for someone else and getting paid for it is illegal...

Not illegal for the writer, but if you turn it in, and they catch it (and the sometimes do, often) you can get your ass kicked out of the school.

 

[candycorn]

Overseas?

I know folks who regularly sell/sold their old papers.

 

[MarathonMike]

Once you get away from math/science based majors, just about all the students "cheat" to some degree. Paying people to write your papers for you is obviously cheating the system and cheating yourself but is it "illegal"? No more illegal than colleges charging those students $50k per year tuition in my opinion.

 

[White 6]

Overseas?

I know folks who regularly sell/sold their old papers.

Remember PCU?

 

[Rogue AI]

Merely the result of ever decreasing standards to get into college and students who are too lazy or too stupid to do their own work. Can't really blame the folks writing the papers, it's all on the cheaters.

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

Once you get away from math/science based majors, just about all the students "cheat" to some degree. Paying people to write your papers for you is obviously cheating the system and cheating yourself but is it "illegal"? No more illegal than colleges charging those students $50k per year tuition in my opinion.

According to the article:

Contract cheating is illegal in 17 states, but punishment tends to be light and enforcement rare.​

 

[MarathonMike]

According to the article:

Contract cheating is illegal in 17 states, but punishment tends to be light and enforcement rare.​

Interesting, I guess it's another victimless crime sort of like prostitution.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

I knew someone who did this for a living. Made $15 an hour back in the 80's, from a very narrow, very rich clientele. One day, one of "her kids" came over and proudly announced, "I made the dean's list", to which she replied, "Don't you mean 'we' made the dean's list?"

I thought about turning her in to university administration, but I doubt if she would have faced any repercussions.

 

[Canon Shooter]

Not illegal for the writer, but if you turn it in, and they catch it (and the sometimes do, often) you can get your ass kicked out of the school.

Which means it's unethical, not illegal...

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

I received a notification on my school account that tomorrow is:

Int’l Day of Action Against Contract Cheating – October 19​

I had never heard of this so I looked it up and found this explanation (and story)

Contract cheating is a form of academic dishonesty in which students pay others to complete their coursework. The term was coined in a 2006 study by Thomas Lancaster[1] and the late Robert Clarke (UK),[2][3][4][5] as a more inclusive way to talk about all forms of academic work, as opposed to more outdated terms such as "term paper mill" or "essay mill", which refer to text-based academic outsourcing. In contrast, Lancaster and Clarke are computer scientists who found evidence of students systematically outsourcing coding assignments. Hence, they coined the term "contract cheating" to include all outsourced academic work, regardless of whether it is from text-based or non-text-based disciplines.​

Contract cheating - Wikipedia​

I am slightly disgusted by why they claim they have to do this

Grifting the Biggest Grifter of All

All of academia is a fraud, anyway. So those who have the skill to write these papers deserve to get paid in this evil institution, which is nothing more respectable than work without pay. Also, I encourage those who work in the transcript office to sell transcripts to those who have an unnecessary need for a college diploma to get a job.

The prosecutor (Ryan Gosling) in Fracture "worked his way through college" (because college is class-biased indentured servitude) by selling term papers. That took away from his study time, which is the only reason his grades weren't good enough to get hired by a high-paying private law firm. His brilliance as a prosecutor proved that the obsolete universities should be replaced with highly paid professional training after graduation from high school.

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

Which means it's unethical, not illegal...

In some places it's both but since there is rarely any punishment for it (as we saw with the two celebrity families in the "Varsity Blues scandal") I guess it isn't that big of a deal unless someone just wants to jam you up on something, anything I suppose.

 

[Canon Shooter]

In some places it's both but since there is rarely any punishment for it (as we saw with the two celebrity families in the "Varsity Blues scandal") I guess it isn't that big of a deal unless someone just wants to jam you up on something, anything I suppose.

Where is it a criminal offense?

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

Where is it a criminal offense?

Educated Eunuchs

The university is a criminal offense, graduating inferior people to superior positions in business, government, and the media. These narrow-minded conformists will bring us down, because no one questions the stupidity of getting a job just because they can go four years without a job. Grads only "know how to" do a job, just as most American boys "know how to" play baseball but can't even make their high school teams.

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

Where is it a criminal offense?

I don't know the answer to that question and was unable to find it, at least not quickly. I just assumed that there would be footnotes or something to show the source but no such luck.

Maybe they should have outsourced this article ;-)

 

[Canon Shooter]

I don't know the answer to that question and was unable to find it, at least not quickly. I just assumed that there would be footnotes or something to show the source but no such luck.

Maybe they should have outsourced this article ;-)

I'll absolutely agree that it's unethical as Hell.

But it's not illegal...