How tutor's cheating scam was detected by lecturer

A private tutor convicted of running an elaborate scam to help students cheat on their exams charged them up to £14,000.

Shahid Adnan completed coursework and online tests for more than 120 students at Liverpool John Moore's University (LJMU), the Crown Prosecution Service said.

Merseyside Police said the 43-year-old, who pleaded guilty and was jailed for three years on Wednesday, had more than £2m in his bank accounts and was living a lavish lifestyle when the deception was uncovered.

But how did his racket, believed to have earned him at least £300,000, unravel?

Det Sgt Adam Dagnall, from Merseyside Police's cyber dependant crime unit, said it was thanks to an eagle-eyed university lecturer.

He said Dr Tom Berry from LJMU's school of computer science and mathematics, "put two and two together" and brought the scam to the attention of detectives.

Dagnall told BBC Radio Merseyside it came after a computer forensics student submitted coursework on a USB pen drive and the lecturer spotted some other folders on it.

The academic discovered the previous owner of the pen drive had inadvertently copied a host of files on to it.

Dagnall explained: "Within that folder were other students' names, their coursework and exams they were sitting, dates... and some monetary values."

There were even personal login credentials on the files.

Dagnall said it was then "quite obvious" they were the names of students who had paid Adnan to sit their exams, and the lecturer passed the evidence on to police.

In addition to the initial pen drive discovery, Berry also shared with police the IP address used to submit multiple pieces of student work.

Officers used this evidence, and data from the university's internet service provider, as a basis for arresting Adnan.

"Our enquiries confirmed that Adnan was able to log into student accounts and complete assessments for them with evidence of payments to him from students," Dagnall said.

He added Adnan had a company called Study Sharp Ltd, which received payments from LJMU students.

Dagnall said he believed he worked for students at other UK universities too.

He said Adnan was living a lavish lifestyle "well beyond" the means afforded to him by his his stated occupations as a private tutor and an Amazon delivery driver.

Detectives uncovered three bank accounts Adnan was using, as well as a trading account.

They found he was driving high-end Audi and BMW cars.

His home also had lavishly expensive furnishings and appliances.

One Barclays Bank account contained £1,505,156, while two Lloyds accounts had balances of £600,590 and £245,279. A further PayPal account contained £110,214.

Cash connected to Adnan's fraud was also found by officers.

Dagnall said it was the rarest case he has ever investigated - and praised Dr Berry and his colleagues "diligence" which helped detectives unravel Adnan's fraudulent activity.

He said: "Cheating at academic institutions is a serious matter, which if left unchallenged can result in students gaining qualifications and moving into careers without having the necessary skills and abilities.

"The risks of that to society are clear to see."

A spokesperson for LJMU said: "The university promotes and supports a culture of academic integrity and takes all forms of academic dishonesty very seriously. We expect all students to conduct themselves appropriately and in accordance with the ethical values of an academic community.

"We continually review the safeguards we have in place to ensure the academic integrity of our assessment processes."

Dagnall said he hoped Adnan's sentence "serves as a strong deterrent to those who would look to commit large-scale fraud, and those students who think they can cheat their way to an undeserved future".

He added proceedings will now commence to recover Adnan's assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

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