The document discusses the issue of contract cheating facilitated by micro-outsourcing websites like Fiverr, highlighting the demand and supply involved in this industry. It presents data on the growth of essay writing providers and the corresponding decrease in pricing over time, indicating a thriving market for such services. The paper emphasizes the need for interventions and ongoing research to understand and address the challenges posed by contract cheating in academic integrity.

1. Exploring Low-Cost Contract
Cheating Provision Enabled Through
Micro-Outsourcing Web Sites
Dr Thomas Lancaster
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
Plagiarism Across Europe and Beyond 2019
Vilnius, Lithuania
Wednesday, 19 June 2019

2. Lift Off

3. Declaration Of Interests
Senior Teaching Fellow (Student Support) at
Imperial College London, UK
Computer Scientist
“Discovered” contract cheating, responsible for
the first publication in 2006
PhD in plagiarism (detection) and have
researched widely - 20th year working in this field
Regular speaker and media commentator on
issues surrounding academic integrity

4. Social Media Use
Encouraged
@DrLancaster
#contractcheating
#enai2019
Slides available at:
http://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster

5. My Current Interest
Who Provides Contract Cheating Services?
A full paper which
extends upon this
presentation is
currently in review

6. Why Should We Care About The
Writers And Providers?
Contract cheating (where students uses a third party to complete
assessed work for them) exists because:
• There is demand for this work
• There is a ready made supply of labour
• There is an established contract cheating industry with developed
business models
• A lot of people make a lot of money out of contract cheating
• Some people depend on contract cheating for their livelihood

7. The Media Is Interested In “Academic
Writers”

8. The Contract Cheating Industry Is
Developed!
A conference of academic ghost writers Lots more examples in my presentation from Calgary

9. Micro-Outsourcing

10. Fiverr.com

11. And…
A few examples from June 2019

12. Sites like Fiverr.com allow students
to connect directly with writers, at
prices far below that of a traditional
contract cheating provider
They also indicate the level at which contract
cheating providers are paying their writers

13. The salary for
a full time
writer for a
contract
cheating
provider in
Pakistan starts
at $84 USD per
month
(less for interns)

14. A More Typical Price Point For Students
Connecting Directly With Writers Is $30 USD
Per 1,000 Words
Based on these two
papers, both of
which contain data
from 2016

15. Studying The Academic
Writers

16. This is important because…
• We need to know who is completing work for students
• We need to know what type of services is available
• We want to be able to discuss academic integrity with students in a
robust and adult way
• We have to put interventions in place
• We have to be alert to the continual developments in the contract
cheating industry

17. Observable Information On Fiverr.com

18. Two Studies
(July 2016, October 2018)
Active Fiverr.com providers identified
– all advertising services under the
“write essays” search term

19. Comparison
Data Set June 2016 October 2018
Number of active unique providers
offering Gigs under the “write
essays” search term
93 197
Mean pricing in USD per 1,000
words, assuming all essays were
2,000 words long
31.73 5.73
Mean pricing in USD per 1,000
words, assuming all essays were
5,000 words long
35.98 5.75
Total number of orders for “write
essays” Gigs from active providers
4294 1137
Note – This is based
on the all time
number of orders for
which buyers left
reviews. It is likely to
be anunderestimate

20. Typical Advertising Text From Writers
“Hey! Iam a college student with a bit of free
time on my hands so ive decided to help you
fellow college students or anyone really with
their projects/essays”
“Writing is my hobby and when u get paid for
doing the work you love is like killing two
birds with one stone”
“I'm a qualified and registered nursing
practitioner in the United Kingdom”
“You will get 100% original content that
passes all plagiarism checks”

21. Developments Between July 2016 And
October 2018
Majority of providers (75 out of 197) openly advertising
themselves as being in Kenya
Increase in the supply (number of providers), reduction in
pricing
Only 2 out of 93 providers from July 2016 still active in October
2018
Gigs no longer stay active for long (58.8% of orders dated
within the previous month)

22. Revenue Estimate – Based On The Study
Numbers
669 orders per month (58.8% of 1137)
Assuming 2,000 words each ($5.73 USD per 1,000 words)
This gives industry revenue of $92,001 USD per year from
this one site alone
(Fiverr.com would receive $26,428 USD in commissions
from buyers and sellers)
These figures are lower bounds

23. What Should We Do?

24. Opportunities
Work with the sites
enabling contract
cheating to remove
that temptation from
students
Remove the false idea
where staff seem to
think that contract
cheating is too
expensive for students
Develop assignments
that cannot be turned
around quickly with
only superficial
knowledge
Continue research into
how the contract
cheating industry
operates so that we can
disrupt these services

25. We also need to…
Continue contract
cheating research at a
discipline specific level
Something to discuss tomorrow…

26. Connect With Me
My Email: thomas@thomaslancaster.co.uk
My Website: http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
My Blog: http://thomaslancaster.co.uk/blog
My LinkedIn:
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/thomaslancaster
My Twitter: @DrLancaster
Slide Archive:
http://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster