Highlights
- Contract cheating companies claim they provide high-quality essay writing services.
- SBS Chinese found that ghostwriter credentials are rarely reviewed before they are hired by contract cheating firms.
- Ghostwriters say they don’t fear for their jobs despite Australia targeting them and their employers.
Her account on the Chinese social messaging app WeChat pings constantly.
Charles* is a member of a handful of group chats with different companies, some containing dozens of ghostwriters like her.
They receive requests to write assignments on behalf of paying students – an act often referred to as contract cheating.
From scrolling through assignment details, she’ll often find and choose tasks unrelated to her expertise.
“I see a lot of different subjects that look interesting, such as criminology, history and geography.”
Read part one of SBS Chinese's investigation into contract cheating
Why are universities catching only 1 in 100 cheaters when the real figure is much higher?
Charles will accept a task within half an hour, which is the usual time it takes for a job to be snapped up by a ghostwriter.
She’s discovered that quick responses and her ad hoc work style contribute to her lucrative income.
‘I’m a money-making machine’
Charles was first introduced to ghostwriting during her undergraduate years in mainland China, before continuing the side hustle throughout her Master's degree at Monash University in Melbourne.
“The job is less tiring than other part-time jobs,” she says.
She admits to initially feeling uncomfortable profiting from the murky business.
But five years in, she happily identifies herself as a “money-making machine”.
Over the years, I’ve taken more than 100 orders and can make $2,000 in a matter of days.
Ghostwriters such as Charles say they operate in largely risk-free environments.
However, Australia’s education standards regulator says this is not the case.
Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) chief executive Alistair Maclean says it’s not just an ethical issue for ghostwriters, it’s a legal problem for them.
“There is legislation in effect that makes it illegal, an offence to offer or provide cheating services to students at higher education institutions in Australia,” he says.
“They do face risks because they are part of the provision of that service. So if the website is offering essay-writing ‘assistance’ and there are people who are part of that service, then they can be caught up in any prosecution.”
Mr Maclean says there will be a continuing focus on the part of the TEQSA, other agencies such as the Australia Federal Police and institutions across the higher education sector on what industry players are doing, why they are doing it and how they can be caught out.
TEQSA chief executive Alistair Maclean says the contract cheating industry has grown. Source: Supplied
However, to date, the risks for ghostwriters are reasonably low, he says.
“Though low now they are bound to be increasing,” Mr Maclean says.
He adds that TEQSA is aware of 2,000 websites globally that offer cheating services to students and 300 that are active in Australia targeting students enrolled at one of the 186 providers of higher education.
“We know of some of the 300 websites that are active in Australia are targeting the Chinese language and Chinese students. But we don’t know exactly how many there are.”
Challenges for the higher education regulator
Charles says she doesn’t fear she’ll lose her job despite the implementation of Australia’s anti-cheating laws in October 2020 to maintain the quality of the nation’s higher education sector and to protect the interests of students.
“The vast majority of whom don’t cheat and don’t want the awards they worked hard to achieve undermined by the activities of the small minority students,” Mr Maclean says.
Those profiting from academic cheating services can face up to two years in jail and $110,000 in fines for providing and promoting services, though none have been prosecuted to date.
Screenshot of assignment help services advertised on Chinese ecommerce site, Taobao. Source: Yue Gong
Mr Maclean says the legislation is not just restricted to internet sites, it also includes social media.
But where they have been successful in gaining federal court orders , Mr Maclean says it is more difficult to target the providers of Chinese social media platforms, such as QQ and WeChat that Chinese firms commonly use to deluge international students with advertisements promoting their cheating services.
SBS Chinese is not suggesting that QQ or WeChat provide the cheating services to students.
“Clearly, jurisdictional issues pose a challenge for us.”
The regulator admits there is still widespread activity targeting students for academic cheating services and although it is working closely with other law enforcement agencies on investigations, there may be some shortcomings.
We don’t have a relationship with Chinese law enforcement to be frank. It’s something we would welcome.
However, for Charles, who mainly ghostwrites for Chinese students in mainland China, the US and Australia, the laws don’t pose a threat.
“I don’t believe that this law will be effective. No one knows who I am. I only use my secondary WeChat ID to take orders. Also, how are they going to regulate multinational companies?”
Low investment, high returns
“I have a classmate who works as a ghostwriter. He makes $8,000 a month and he doesn’t even work full-time,” a University of Melbourne student tells SBS Chinese.
Charles says she is able to produce a 2,000-word assignment in two hours and reveals how she can churn out assignments.
“We search for similar essay topics on [Chinese search engine] Baidu and then use Google to translate them into English. We then use Turnitin [a plagiarism software program used by universities] to ensure a low similarity rate,” she says.
If the student fails the assignment using the ghostwritten work, Charles says she doesn’t get paid.
Chinese ghostwriters say they search for similar essay topics on Chinese search engines. Source: AP
“There are no other losses incurred.
“So we lose one student, there will be thousands of others.”
SBS Chinese orders a ‘high distinction’ made-to-order essay
To understand the inner workings of the contract cheating industry, SBS Chinese commissioned a 1,500-word media essay through a cheating service found on WeChat.
In the investigation’s initial enquiries, a ghostwriter from the University of Queensland with a PhD was promised.
The administrator also guaranteed that a piece would be produced within a 24-hour turnaround to garner an above average grade, or our money back if it received a fail.
When the ghostwritten paper was received within the agreed timeframe and included in a set of four essays that were sent to three Australian university media lecturers, not only were the academics able to spot the ghostwritten piece, they .
After informing the cheating agency we were unsatisfied with the essay score, they asked us for a screenshot of the result and said the feedback would be passed onto the ghostwriter.
SBS Chinese asked university tutors to spot the ghostwritten essay. Source: SBS
No refund or compensation was offered.
Students who cheat don’t just have to worry about getting caught by their tutor, they’re also susceptible to blackmail.
Cheating services can to their university or employer as a way to ensure an ongoing stream of income from students.
“I have their personal details so I could blackmail them if I wanted to,” Charles admits.
SBS Chinese applies for a ghostwriting gig
A number of contract cheating firms SBS Chinese came across on WeChat marketed themselves as having a team of “experienced, high-scoring writers”.
When asked to prove their credibility, some were quick to share screenshots of academic transcripts reflecting their history of outstanding results, which one ghostwriter said was most likely photoshopped.
As part of the investigation, an SBS Chinese journalist applied for two ghostwriting roles at different firms to investigate their business models and hiring processes.
In both cases, the journalist was not required to provide proof of education or an academic transcript.
Nor did they need to hand over any personal identification details. 
Instead, the contract cheating firm flooded a private chat with the journalist with orders from students enrolled in various subjects - from business to IT and food safety.
Australia's anti-cheating laws are designed to protect the nation's higher education sector. Source: AAP
The journalist was told they could immediately accept any and as many tasks as they wished.
The employer often made a 60-70 per cent cut of the profits, for example, the ghostwriter would pocket $90 from a 1,500-word essay worth $300.
The SBS Chinese journalist did not engage in any contract cheating work or communicate further with the site’s administrator.
The student cheat
Emily hired a ghostwriter three times while studying for her bachelor’s degree at the University of Adelaide.
Once I failed a big assignment. I thought, why not find a ghostwriter to help me pass?
She instructed the ghostwriter to produce an average-graded paper, which she believed had a lower chance of being found out by her teacher.
“Two of the [ghostwritten] papers achieved my desired score, the other scored in the low 50s. I don’t know if it’s because the teacher suspected the paper was ghostwritten.”
Emily says she weighed up her decision to use a ghostwriter based on her assessment of her teacher.
“I had two subjects. For one of them, I had a relaxed teacher. I wasn’t worried [about getting caught contract cheating].”
She passed on her ghostwriter’s details to friends and says she’s not categorically against contract cheating.
“I don’t advocate for this kind of behaviour, but it’s not that undesirable. As long as you're not deceived or anything, it’s fine.”
The high-end ghostwriter
Before Kitten* became a ghostwriter, he was a private tutor.
He says his clients often had poor English and couldn’t keep up with the learning pace or meet local academic standards. 
“Their English was not good enough to pass assignments and their parents always had high expectations.”
Kitten charges premium prices for high-quality assignments. Source: Getty
As Kitten’s student neared their final assignments, he found them ill-prepared and needing help.
“I sat their online exam, which didn’t require the student to turn on their camera while writing,” he says.
Kitten has ghostwritten for a handful of students over the past two years and says he takes their assignments seriously.
“For big final assignments, I usually spend a month preparing and I review the whole course.”
He charges $2000 for a 2000-word paper, which he says yields a high-distinction result.
I have regular clients. They come looking for me every semester.
“I can pretty much achieve their desired academic result.”
Kitten says he’s confident students won’t be sniffed out by their teachers or examiners.
“I go to the student’s home if it’s a computer test. The university won’t suspect the student is using a different IP that way. Plus, I only accept cash and delete all records [digital trails] afterwards.”
Kitten also tells his student to regularly download coursework so that if their result is better than their teacher’s expectation, the student has sufficient evidence to prove they’ve done the research.
Ghostwriters say as long as there are international students, there will always be demand for their services. Source: AAP
Money favoured over morals
It took a few years of ghostwriting for Charles qualms about her job to disappear.
“When I first started out, I felt sad about taking money from students,” she says.
Charles believes students who look for ghostwriters are “irresponsible” with their parent’s money.
Kitten has also been through mental struggles accepting what he does to make a living.
“I certainly think the industry is disgraceful, but I also believe in money over morals,” he adds.
“My money shortage and the client’s lack of [their desired] academic results complement one another.”
*Name has been changed at request of the subjects.
