Essay Mills: Fake Dissertation Writing Services Making Millions Online

Wondering how essay mills are making millions online overnight? Can you believe that there are the fake dissertation writing services that make a million from nothing? The dissertation writing services illegal are scamming people and making millions overnight and this business is still flourishing across the globe. This news story reveals how scam websites claim they are legit UK based companies but in fact they are from the Asian countries. This news story will also give you all the real originality of a large network of fake websites that has grabbed millions of pounds from the UK students with fake websites, fake social network accounts and fake identity.

What is an Essay Mill Business

Before I give you an example of a real essay mill business and a fake dissertation writing services network in Pakistan and how it is setup and run, let me explain what the essay mill is and how it works.

The essay mill, also called “Contract Cheating” is a business which provides custom written academic papers for money. The essay mills review published online and the information about essay mills on reddit show, “essay mills are the websites where students pay for their essays, dissertations, theses and assignments and these websites provide the clients custom written academic papers which the students submit to their colleges as their own”.

In fact, an essay mill website serves as intermediary company that takes the academic paper writing order from students and hires writers to complete the assignment and then sends this same to the students. In this process, the academic paper or the dissertation writing services may charge minimum £15 per page from the UK student and pay the writer maximum £3-5.

How Dissertation Writing Services Business Works?

The easiest way to earn money working from home is to create a website and start selling services or products online. Within days anyone can go live on internet with a website. The essay mill business is the most profitable one because of the high rates charged from the foreign students and lowest rates paid to the Pakistani writers. Most of the online essay mill websites charge from £15 to £25 per page. On the other hand, they pay their writers only Rs. 250 or just £1 per page.

The only thing needed to run this glorious business is a good looking website, Internet connection and a laptop. On the peak season, any website on the first page of Google search engine may get 10 to 20 dissertation orders daily so anyone on top of the Google search results may earn up to ONE MILLION PAKISTANI RUPEES (1 MILLION PKR) PER DAY just sitting home on the laptop.

Going live with an essay mill website does not cost much. Any professional web design and development company in Pakistan may give you a good looking website in around Rs. 50000 and with a good marketing expert you may get on top of the Google search results within 3 months and then money will start pouring into your bank account.

First of all, you need a domain name which may serve as your brand name as well. Almost all of the domain registering and hosting services offer private registration that means no one may know who the owner of the website is. The same domain registration company may also offer you hosting plans so you may create your website and go live.

If you are going to focus the UK students and want to pretend yourself as a legitimate UK based writing service then there are so many online companies offering virtual UK postal addresses and virtual UK phone numbers. With a virtual UK postal address and phone number you are all set to claim yourself a legitimate UK based dissertation writing service and no one can trace your real identity. This is  the  main reason behind proliferation of essay mill websites in Pakistan as the loopholes in UK and Pakistani laws make it difficult to apprehend and prosecute such fake website owners.

How Much Earning from the Fake Dissertation Writing Services?

Let me explain how much money is earned by this contract cheating business or the scam dissertation writing services. Just look at the price table of a fake dissertation writing services website (theacademicpapers.co.uk) which is actually being operated from Pakistan.

The average price of dissertation, thesis, assignment or the essay is from £13 to £26 per page. Now suppose you have an essay of say 10 pages, you will pay the essay mill almost £200 for a 4-5 days deadline. For the same essay, the essay mill will pay around £20 to the writer who will complete the essay and the essay mill will forward it to you. In this process £180 will go to the owner of the essay mill pocket who is doing all this just from home on a laptop without any office cost and there are no taxes paid.

During the peak season, an essay mill website with high ranking on Google may get business of more than 2000 to 5000 dollars per day, that means it earns up to 60000 dollars per month which is beyond the imagination of many mill and factory owners or the medium sized business with offices and employees. Another advantage of this business is that the essay mill owner does not do anything but interact with the client and the writers sitting on his/her laptop from the home. For this business, there is no office required and no employees are hired. Do you know that the median household disposable income in the UK during the financial year 2019 was £29,400? It means by running a fake essay mill business from Pakistan a common person would be earning many times more than a UK citizen and he is also not required to pay any taxes.

How Essay Mill business Proliferated in Pakistan

There is an interesting story published in the New York Times about essay-for-hire industry which shows how Mary Mbugua, a university student in Nyeri, Kenya started her business of essay mill and now earning handsome money by writing essays. Another story published in the Daily Mail is more interesting that shows how Kenyan are cheating British students every year. This report says, 36-year-old boss, James Waitutu Karuri, owns a fleet of luxury cars and lives in an exclusive Nairobi suburb that looks more like Beverley Hills than East Africa, where 41 per cent of the population has no running water.

The owner of “The Academic Papers” (theacademicpapers.co.uk) and the All Freelancers Ltd has the same story. Prior to this scam and fraud business, he was an utterly poor boy with a simple college education. However, once he started the contract cheating business, he has become millionaire and now living a luxurious life in Arifwala, Pakistan and the people living in his native village still wonder how he is earning this money and what kind of business he is doing. These are the few examples of how people living in Kenya, China and India, and Pakistan are grabbing huge money from UK and USA students by writing their academic papers. Such essay mills have sprung in China, India, Bengal, UKrain, and Pakistan.

Example of a Fake Dissertation Writing Services Network from Pakistan

Although not the only example of the contract cheating service in Pakistan, I have chosen “The Academic Papers” as a case study for certain reasons. The most obvious reason to choose this network is that the person behind this online fraud network is a young, ill-educated and from an utterly poor family which suddenly got heaps of money from this business and now has become so much fearless due to this wealth that he has started threatening the lives of others. He believes in the power of money and with the prevailing corruption in almost every government department he has made his mind that he can buy anyone and can do any legal or illegal things with his wealth.

“The Academic Papers” is providing academic papers to the students using fake websites, fake testimonials and fake endorsements. On the websites of the “Academic Papers” and the “All freelancers Ltd”, it is claimed that they are a real UK based registered company but in fact these are the fake websites being run from a small town of Arifwala, Pakistan.

From a very poor and illiterate family, the owner of the Academic Papers launched his contract cheating business by creating the website “The Academic Papers” (theacademicpapers dot co.uk) in 2013. At the time when he started this website he was an utterly poor man living in a small town. However, from this scam Academic Papers website he has earned millions of dollars within a few years and now he has purchased huge land, a glorious house in the city of Arifwala and millions of dollars in his bank accounts.

From the success of his first website theacademicpapers dot co.uk he created dozen more similar websites to capture all the top positions on Google to add more money to his bank account. Here is the list of some of the websites associated with the “Academic Papers”

1. cheap-essay-writing dot co.uk
2. cheap-dissertation-writing dot co.uk
3. dissertation-writers-uk dot co.uk
4. essayswritingservices dot co.uk
5. dissertationhelponline dot co.uk
6. dissertationwritingmasters dot co.uk
7. affordable-dissertation dot co.uk
8. thedissertationhelp dot co.uk
9. dissertation-writers dot uk

Interestingly, this empire of the fake essay mill or the contract cheating websites is being run from home and there is no office, no employees, and no income tax returns. Also, the law enforcement agencies seem to be unaware of this online fraud and have not checked from where and from which business such huge remittances are made into his accounts in Pakistan and where he is spending this money. This is happening at the time when FIA has traced dozens of benami accounts.

Is the Academic Papers A fake dissertation writing service?

Yes, definitely the Academic Papers and the “All freelancers Ltd” are fake and scam websites falsely claiming to be the UK based registered companies. The phone number and the office address given on these websites are not genuine but only virtual. To deceive the UK students, a virtual UK phone number +44 121 2862211 and a virtual office address of “379 Dudly Road, Green, Birmingham, B11 3EU” is displayed on the website which anyone can buy from virtual phone number and office address providing websites. If anyone living in the UK happens to visit this address he will quickly know that this is just a virtual office address and there is no real office at this address in the UK.

Similarly, the Academic Papers website claims:

“The Academic Papers UK has hired PhD level expert dissertation writers to provide quality work up to the standard. We assure that your paper will be prepared by most professional writers who will have expertise and qualification relevant to your topic. We guarantee that you will never miss your deadline and desired grade.”

In fact, the so called PhD level expert UK writers are also from Pakistan. Noman Mustafa, one of the writers having worked with this company has posted his comment on the facebook which is a clear evidence who the PhD level UK writers in reality.

How Much Actual Money from the Essay Mill Website?

Through this website, the owner of the Academic Papers has earned millions of dollars and on average, around 5000+ dollars were transferred on weekly basis to his Pakistani bank account. This is a huge and unbelievable amount for any poor family living in an underdeveloped area. The payment report issued from the payment processor shows the weekly release of his payments.

During 2015, when his website started receiving traffic through Google search results on the main keyword “dissertation writing services” his daily average sales were more than $1200, more than any full time employee earnings in the UK and without having to pay any taxes and without leaving home for the job.

So, with this money flooding to his bank account, he created dozen more similar websites and now he has a huge network of fake websites. With the greed of money and the lust to become the richest person in Pakistan, he has added dozens of similar websites to grab money from UK students and in return his clients get crappy papers fabricated by Pakistani writers. As a result, they not only loose the hard earned money but also fail in the class, not to speak of getting any so called “A+ grade from the UK’s top rated dissertation writing service”.

All freelancers Ltd – Is it an offshore company?

Yes, it is an offshore company serving to grab money from the UK students of UK and transfer this amount to the Pakistani bank account.

In fact, almost all of the freelancers working from Pakistan face the same problem – no payment processor allows Pakistanis to open their account with them and without a payment processor these Pakistanis cannot take payments from their European clients. To overcome this problem, the owner of the Academic Papers created “All freelancers Ltd” and claims it to be an advertising company although anyone from the design and the contents of the website can see that this is just a copy of the Academic Papers. Also, on the Academic Papers website it is displayed “

“The Academic Papers UK is a part of “All freelancers Ltd”, A Company Registered in England and Wales (Company Registration No: 10649714).

All freelancers Ltd is registered with the Companies House UK. It is the prerequisite of the payment processors that any company in need of taking payments through credit card must be registered in the UK. To get registered with the Companies House, a virtual office address and the phone number is needed – that all. There are lot of online virtual office and phone number providers where you can buy an office address and a phone number. So, All Freelancers Ltd. Did the same and got registered with the Companies House UK as an offshore company and then created his merchant account with the Bluesnap which takes payments from credit cards and sends money to owners bank account in Pakistan.

Now, in case of any dispute with the Academic Papers and the All Freelancers Ltd. the students of the UK are unable to locate the real person behind the Academic Papers from the office address given on the website. Only the bluesnap.com where “All freelancers Ltd” is registered exactly knows the personal details like the bank account etc of the owner of this fake essay mill network.

A Vast Network of Fake Websites

Marketing of any business plays a vital role in its business. The team with the Academic Papers has rigorously established this network using hundreds of their own websites instead of relying on other website owners for link building. A research conducted to trace the back links of these essay mill websites shows there are more than 100 blog websites that belong to the same owner and are used for marketing purpose. Here is the list of a few of these websites.

Blog Website for backlink building to the business sites

1. 247liveupdates dot com
2. academiaarticles dot com
3. academiapeak dot co.uk
4. academiapost dot co.uk
5. academicassistance dot xyz
6. academicblogger dot info
7. academicforum dot co.uk
8. academicforum dot xyz
9. academicinfo dot co.uk
10. academicportal dot xyz
11. academicsources dot co.uk
12. academicwritingbenefits dot us
13. adsdone dot com
14. adsdone dot org
15. albertbarkley dot xyz
16. allaboutassignments dot co.uk
17. articlesspot dot co.uk
18. artipot dot co.uk
19. assignmentmasters dot xyz
20. assignmentpapers dot co.uk
21. assignmentpapers dot xyz
22. assignmentswritingservice dot co.uk
23. assignmentwriters dot .top
24. assignmentwritingservices dot .info
25. best-dissertation dot co.uk
26. bizzreviews dot co.uk
27. bloggage dot xyz
28. buydissertations dot xyz
29. careerblog dot online
30. cheap-dissertation-writing dot co.uk
31. coursework2017 dot us
32. courseworkmasters dot xyz
33. courseworkwriters dot xyz
34. courseworkwritingservices dot co.uk
35. custom-dissertation-writing dot co.uk
36. digitalvirals dot com
37. discussionforum dot net
38. dissertationboss dot co.uk
39. dissertationcapital dot co.uk
40. dissertationcenter dot co.uk
41. dissertationhelponline dot co.uk
42. dissertationhelponline dot info
43. dissertationmasters dot xyz
44. dissertationpeak dot co.uk
45. dissertation-reviews dot co.uk
46. dissertation-reviews dot com
47. dissertationreviews dot xyz
48. dissertations2017 dot us
49. dissertationscam dot review
50. dissertationwriters dot site
51. dissertation-writing-expert dot co.uk
52. dissertation-writing-services dot co.uk
53. dissertationwritingsolutions dot info
54. diyhometrends dot com
55. doneads dot org
56. educationblogger dot co.uk
57. educationpaper dot xyz
58. educationpeak dot co.uk
59. educationpost dot co.uk
60. educatorsblogger dot info
61. eduknowhow dot info
62. edupaper dot xyz
63. essayscam dot review
64. essay-scams dot co.uk
65. essayspapers dot co.uk
66. essay-writers-uk dot co.uk
67. essaywritingservicesuk dot us
68. e-techmag dot info
69. expertwriters dot xyz
70. ezines dot site
71. gadgetsntechn dot us
72. largeseotools dot net
73. largeseotools dot org
74. normajozef dot xyz
75. onelinkads dot com
76. onlyacademicwriting dot us
77. perfectwriter dot online
78. phd-dissertation dot co.uk
79. professional-resumes dot us
80. propagez .com
81. researchpaperwritingservice .info
82. resumewritingtips .us
83. sherazkhanbaloch .xyz
84. socialbookmarkings .co.uk
85. studentsacademicactivities .us
86. studentsportal .co.uk
87. talkingdocuments .us
88. teamacademicwriters .org
89. teamacademicwriters .com
90. technoblogger.co .uk
91. theacademicnews .co.uk
92. theassignmentpapers .co.uk
93. thecourseworkpapers .co.uk
94. thedissertationpapers .co.uk
95. theessaypapers .co.uk
96. theoriticalframeworks .us/
97. thereviewsnetwork .com
98. thesismasters .co.uk
99. thesiswriters .online
100. thesiswritingservices .co.uk
101. theukessays .co.uk
102. ukacademichelp .info
103. uk-assignmentswritingservice .co.uk
104. ukbusinesshub .org
105. uk-dissertations .com
106. uk-dissertationwritingservices .co.uk
107. uk-essay-writers .co.uk
108. unique-dissertations .co.uk
109. universitycampusuk .info
110. weblog .website
111. wewriters .us
112. worldessays .co.uk
113. writingvalley .co.uk
114. writingwithexperts .us
115. xpressnews .co.uk
116. yourgpost .com
117. assignmentsolver .co.uk
118. cheapdissertationservice .info
119. discussionforum .net
120. dissertation-reviews .co.uk
121. iccmatches .cricket
122. markstallings .us
123. normajozef .xyz
124. professionaldissertationwriter .us
125. pro-updates .com
126. theukessays .com
127. vitaltechs .net
128. creative-techs .com
129. adzpk .com
130. dailypublishers .com

How payment by fake dissertation writing services is processed

There are many payment processors which can take credit card payments online and transfer the amount to the merchant (business owner). “The Academic Papers” is using Bluesnap to get payments from its clients. Once, any customer places order with the Academic Paper, he/she is redirected to the Bluesnap payment page where customers put the credit cards details. On top of the payment page, “All Freelancers Ltd” is displayed to show the clients they are making payment to All Freelancers Ltd. The name of the All Freelancers Ltd is used because no payment processor accepts essay mill business so in order to deceive the payment processor itself All Freelancers Ltd projects itself to be the marketing and advertising company instead of a dissertation writing service.

Fake Testimonials – Fake Social media accounts

The network of essay mill websites operated from Pakistan is linked with many fake social networks accounts to establish the reputation of being a genuine UK based dissertation writing service. Using fake names and profiles they mislead visitors to believe in their services and glowing endorsements from Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin profiles.

Also, the marketing team of the Academic papers is aggressively publishing fake claims online to boast their business and attract innocent students to buy academic papers like dissertations, theses, essays and other assignments from them. Similar fake testimonials of the so called UK students are given on the website.

Why Dissertation Writing Services So Popular?

The majority of the students from all over the world come to the UK for seeking better job opportunities. Most of them visit UK on study visa and get admission in colleges and universities. As a student, they have to work part time to meet the expenses of colleges and universities and have little time for their studies. For such students, essay mill websites are the ideal place to complete their routine academic assignments by paying money. They just visit any essay or assignment writing service website, buy the assignment online and forward and submit the completed essay or assignment sent from the essay mill to the university as their own.

The Dark Side of Essay Mill Websites

It is true that there are many essay mill companies operating from the UK. As a registered business they have to take care of the UK laws and provide their clients what they advertise on their websites. However, there are so many other fake websites from India, Ukraine, Kenya, China and Pakistan that claim to be the registered UK based companies but in fact are being operated from their respective countries.

These glossy and assured websites display UK office address and UK phone number to convince their visitors they are dealing with a legit UK based service. Once the student is trapped to believe in these services and pays handsome money, he/she is at the mercy of these scammers. Since for any student it is almost impossible to trace their real identity in case there is some dispute of quality of the work, many such websites don’t care much of their clients. In most cases, a student who orders his/her assignment or essay and pays money gets crappy copy paste work done by Pakistani writers and when he/she submits that to the university or college the work is rejected or the student is accused of plagiarism which not only ruins his/her academic career but a loss of his money as well.

Impact of Essay Mill Companies on UK Institutions

The UK academic institutions have been recognized as the most prestigious learning places for centuries and have been the hub of the knowledge for the whole world. However, these essay mill companies have plagued the credibility and reputation of these prestigious institutions and have proved to be a ‘cancer’ that is ‘undermining the UK universities’.

The essay mill or the contract cheating services, though not illegal in the UK, have undermined the integrity of UK higher education. Students have become lazy to conduct search on their own and write their assignments as they can get these assignments from essay mill websites by paying some money. Although a student may get degree using these services, when he/she returns to the native country with a UK degree certainly his knowledge would demonstrate the standards of the UK institution.

Students from all over the world come to the United Kingdom for higher education and get an esteemed degree recognized throughout the world. However, dissertations and theses written by such essay mill websites and the degrees as a result of this put a big question mark on the reputation of the UK academic institutions. A student submits a dissertation written by a bachelor level Pakistani freelancer writer and the UK university awards doctoral degree to him. Does it mean the Pakistani bachelor level writer is more learned than the UK student doing a PhD research work in the UK University?

On the other hand, the fake essay mill business from Arifwala also puts a big question mark of the credibility of the law enforcement agencies in Pakistan. With recent policies and initiatives of FBR to bring the business of every kind in tax bracket, it seems impossible that anyone can hide his wealth from the FBR in Paksitan, his foreign remittances remain hidden from the State Bank and his business remains hidden from the FIA vigilance. Especially, the State Bank of Pakistan has made it mandatory to take notice of any transaction of more than half million rupees. In this situation how a fraudster keeps getting heaps of money in his bank account and all the state departments remain ignorant.

Is Contract Cheating Illegal?

Although the contract cheating is a serious academic misconduct and badly impacting the academic integrity and reputation of the UK institutions, there are so many contract cheating or the essay mills continuing their business in the UK. The laws regulating these essay mills vary from state to state and these services are still legal in the UK. However, the UK government is combating the evil and new laws are in progress to make it illegal. Also, there are the loopholes  in the laws that these essay mills exploit and continue grabbing money from the innocent students in the name of providing model papers for them.

How the UK dealing with the Essay Mills

Sadly, in spite of all the debates on how to fight against the evil of essay mills, UK is still ‘falling behind’ without legislation and risks the reputation of its degrees.

“We thought we were on the way to something. But aside from increased guidance and media attention, we haven’t got anywhere,” said Michael Draper, professor of legal studies at Swansea University, offering his assessment of the British situation.

The role of the UK media as a whistle blower towards combating the fake dissertation writing services is commendable. However, considering the huge number of fake dissertation writing services in UK, it is not possible to highlight each and every instance of it.

It is also true that the journalists and the media should be impartial towards reporting and when they come across any evil that is dangerous for an individual or community they should report it without any discrimination. If the journalists are really whistle-blowers of the society they must report anything dangerous to their community regardless of who is reporting it.

 Is it a nobody’s business?

Evils prevail and criminals become fearless when the state organs start shifting their responsibilities to others and in the end it becomes no body’s business to handle these criminals. In the case of such fake dissertation writing services in UK, the UK journalists cannot report such contract cheating services at individual level and the state organs are also in the process to recommend legislation to combat and eradicate this evil from the country. Till then, it is indeed a nobody’s business to apprehend and prosecute such services