Fake Degrees and the Cheating Crisis

Buying a degree often resembles a standard online transaction rather than a crime. You enter your credit card details, upload a prompt, and receive a document that looks exactly like learning. But this exchange creates a gap between the grade on paper and the skill in the student’s head.  

The industry surrounding essay mills thrives on this disconnect. In 2003, Barclay Littlewood moved from working as a barrister to selling academic essays, helping to launch a market that now employs thousands of freelance writers. The promise is simple: pay a fee, get the grade. However, the reality involves legal loopholes, blackmail risks, and a flood of artificial intelligence that makes detection nearly impossible.

According to R. Rahimi et al., the provision and advertising of contract cheating services was made illegal in England on 28 April 2022, yet the market remains active. The law exists on paper, yet zero prosecutions have occurred since the ban started. This lack of enforcement allows vendors to keep operating, often labeling their products as "model answers" or simple study aids to avoid liability. As technology advances, essay mills are shifting from human writers to algorithms, leaving universities scrambling to protect the value of a degree.  

The Business of Buying Grades 

A product creates its own demand when it removes the struggle from success. The essay writing industry operates on a massive scale, with a pricing structure that mirrors legitimate consulting firms. A student can spend as little as £20 for a basic 1,000-word assignment. For those seeking advanced credentials, the price tag can hit £20,000 for a doctorate or master 's-level work.  

This operation is not small or concealed in a basement. The vendor network includes around 3,000 freelance writers, some of whom claim to be current or former university lecturers. Barclay Littlewood’s entry into the market signaled a shift toward professionalization. He and others in the industry defend their work by calling it reference material. They argue that how the student uses the text is not the seller’s responsibility.  

In one extreme case of academic disparity, a student scored 99% on an essay bought online but only managed 2% on an exam for the same module. This gap exposes the reality of the transaction. The student purchased a result rather than the knowledge required to achieve it.  

A Law Without Teeth 

Rules without consequences act as suggestions. The UK government attempted to shut down the cheating economy with the Skills and Post-16 Education Act in April 2022. As noted by the Education Hub blog, this legislation made it a criminal offence to provide or arrange these writing services for financial gain to students in England. On the surface, it looked like the end of the industry. 

However, the reality is different. Since the ban came into effect, there have been zero recorded convictions. The services keep operating openly. Essay mills simply adjust their terms of service to deny liability, framing their output as educational support. The question that arises here is whether it is the student who gets in trouble for this or the institution providing these services.  

Is it illegal to use essay mills? 

While the law targets the providers of the service, students face academic expulsion rather than criminal charges, though the providers themselves have faced no legal penalties so far.  
 The legal situation is also inconsistent across borders. While England has a ban in place, the legislation in Scotland is still only "under consideration." This geographic inconsistency gives vendors another layer of protection. They can host servers or register businesses in jurisdictions where the laws are weaker or non-existent, making it difficult for English authorities to enforce the rules effectively.  

The Target Audience and Tactics 

Marketing works best when it targets insecurity rather than ambition. Research from the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR) highlights how these companies use predatory language to hook vulnerable students. Beyond selling essays, they sell relief from stress.  

The primary demographic often includes international students who face immense pressure. These students deal with language barriers and strict visa requirements. Universities rely on the high fees these students pay, creating a "cash cow" business model that prioritizes revenue. Vendors exploit this by offering "bespoke solutions" to alleviate the fear of failure. 

Alia, a student observer, noted that international classmates often disengage from peer learning. They check out of the process, distracted by phones or discouraged by poor language skills. Alia mentioned that some students even mock honest effort, suggesting payment is the superior option. This creates an environment where cheating becomes a rational choice for survival.  

Darker risks exist beneath the surface. The SCCJR identified blackmail as a serious threat. Once a student uses a service, the provider has proof of their dishonesty. Some bad actors threaten to expose the student to their university unless they pay more money, trapping them in a cycle of extortion. 

From Human Writers to AI Algorithms 

Automation speeds up production while changing the nature of the product itself. The old model of essay mills relied on human labor, but the industry is rapidly integrating artificial intelligence. As The Guardian reports, the trend has shifted from traditional plagiarism—copying someone else's work—to AI misuse, while expert speakers stress the difficulty of proving this type of misconduct.  

Tech giants like Google and OpenAI offer discounts or upgrades to students, making powerful tools accessible. Essay mills now use these technologies to promise "guaranteed grades" via algorithms. This shift lowers their costs and increases the speed of delivery.  

Do essay mills use AI tools? 

Yes, many services now integrate AI to generate content quickly, claiming to offer "model answers" that bypass standard plagiarism checks.  

Dr. Scarfe, an academic expert, points out that verifying AI cheating is far harder than catching copy-paste plagiarism. There is no source to find. The content is unique every time it is generated. This technological leap forces universities to fight a ghost. They are looking for text that was never written by a human in the first place, rather than stolen text. 

Why Professors Cannot Catch Them 

Trusting "gut instinct" is a fragile defense against a machine designed to mimic humans. Steve Foster, a former lecturer, noted that he could often sense when a paper felt "robotic." He looked for technical perfection that lacked human nuance. However, intuition is not proof.  

A blind study reported by the University of Reading news service exposed the scale of the detection failure. They submitted AI-generated answers to the university's marking system, which resulted in a 94% success rate for undetected submissions. The AI answers passed, slipping through without raising any alarms.  

Lecturers face a difficult bind. Dr. Scarfe explains that false accusations can damage a student's career and the university's reputation. Without definitive proof, professors hesitate to penalize suspicious work. Meanwhile, students use "humanizing" tools to rewrite AI content, deliberately adding small errors or conversational phrasing to bypass detection software. The Guardian reports that confirmed cases are just the "tip of the iceberg," with thousands of instances likely going unnoticed. 

The Real-World Consequences of Fake Degrees 

A grade is a safety rating for a professional's future competence. When students bypass the learning process, they graduate without the necessary skills. Steve Foster eventually resigned from academia in 2024, citing rampant cheating as a primary reason. He warned that the public trust is endangered when incompetent professionals enter the workforce.  
 The risk extends beyond the classroom. If a nursing student buys essays to pass their degree, they may lack the medical knowledge to treat patients safely. If an engineering student fakes their reports, infrastructure safety could be compromised. The diploma signals expertise, but the graduate possesses none.  

The statistics are alarming. An investigation by The Guardian found almost 7,000 proven cases of cheating using AI tools in the 2023–24 academic year. That amounts to about 5.1 cases per 1,000 students. While this number seems low, the high rate of undetected submissions suggests the real figure is much higher. The gap between the 2% exam score and the 99% essay score mentioned earlier proves that students can manufacture an entire academic identity without learning the material. 

The Motivation Gap 

People take the path of least resistance when the pressure exceeds their capacity to cope. The narrative often blames laziness, but the drivers are more complicated. Cultural factors play a role. Some students come from backgrounds with a high "deference to experts," making them hesitant to critique sources or form original arguments.  

Economic pressure is another massive factor. A journal report points to "socio-economic time poverty" and the cost-of-living crisis. Students work long hours to afford tuition and rent, leaving little time for study.  

Why do students buy essays? 

Students often turn to these services due to severe time constraints, financial pressure, or a lack of confidence in their own language skills.  

Harvey, a student user, explained his method. He rarely copies text exactly. Instead, he uses tools for structure and brainstorming, then manually reworks the content. This "hybrid" cheating allows him to evade detection while reducing the effort required. University guidance warns that even this approach is risky. Using concealed sources or misdirecting effort toward deception creates a fragile foundation for learning. Strict liability policies mean that "accidental" cheating or intent doesn't matter; the penalty stands.  

The Future of Assessment 

When the test can be beaten by a robot, the test itself is broken. Dr. Lancaster argues that the value of rote learning is decreasing rapidly. If an AI can recall facts and structure arguments better than a human, universities need to stop testing those skills.  

The focus must shift toward communication and interpersonal skills—areas where essay mills and AI struggle to compete. However, the logistical challenges are immense. Dr. Scarfe notes that returning to in-person exams for every module is impractical at scale. It requires space, invigilators, and resources that many institutions lack.  

Universities are currently relying on a mix of old-school intuition and outdated policy. They turn a "blind eye" in some cases to avoid reputation damage or legal battles they can't win. But as the tools for cheating improve, the academic system faces a forced evolution.  

Closing the Essay Mills Loophole 

The battle between education and the essay mills is an arms race where one side is bound by rules and the other is not. Legislation like the 2022 Act was intended to stop the flow of bought grades, but the lack of prosecution proves that laws alone are insufficient. The unseen factor here involves the broken trust between the institution and the student, extending beyond just the technology or the money.  

Until assessment methods change to value real-time human capability over submitted files, the market for fake degrees will keep growing. The industry has already adapted to the law and the technology. Now, it is up to the academic world to catch up before the value of a degree disappears entirely.