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colettelewis
Community Member

Academic cheating again - and again - and again

I really don't know why I continue to post about this - maybe just to continue to make a point - not that the point gets anywhere near its mark. 

 

In the last week I have seen at least twelve job offers for course work to be written and some of those jobs have been completed. I have flagged just one and nothing was done about it (as far as I know).

 

This afternoon I have three of these 'job offers' in my job feed - using euphemistic terms such as editing and proofreading, but the 'clients' are looking for writers for their dissertations and their theses. 

 

I am truly disgusted that Upwork continues to allow these people to use the site as the go-to platform for perpetuating academic fraud.  

18 REPLIES 18
mwiggenhorn
Community Member

Interestingly, the job I repeatedly tried to flag a few days ago was clearly academic fraud.  I finally had to PM the moderator who said that it appeared that flagging for some reason was not available Just For That Particular Job.  Really?  How does that even work?

 

It was for an apparent law student located in China who wanted someone to write a research paper for him.  

 

I don't do academic writing but I occasionally search those listings looking for fraud, which continues to be rampant. Part of the problem appears to be that the Upwork people who respond to those flags are not properly trained to identify academic fraud.

Therre was even a "client" in the client forum, wailing that a freelancer he hired to write his paper was about to ruin his life by reporting him to the university.


He also thought it was a victimless offence as it would not hurt anyone of he cheated. He was quite adamant that he was the victim.

Oy ve.

elizabeth_samit
Community Member

I have flagged so many clients who are students seeking freelancers to write their academic papers that I actually feel that UpWork should begin paying me (and other freelancers) for salvaging their reputation. It is absolutely absurd that freelancers are still expected to click on a menu item after flagging as suspected fraud and write out the reason as a violation of UpWork's Terms of Service. Yes, UpWork is definitely demonstrating that this company is part of the problem (rather than part of the solution) by still not including a menu item of academic fraud for flagging after all these years. Of course, there will be some type of response to my comment that absolves UpWork of this responsibility and shifts it to clients and freelancers. However, it is obvious that this online platform is aiding students across the planet in their capacity to submit written work created by someone specifically-hired to commit fraud.

And so in my job feed now is this job: 

 

Someone looking for "an expert to write their paper (with no plagiarism - of course not) on the Crimea. 

The paper is for a thesis seminar class. 
 
I have flagged it - but would anyone like to bet on the job being delisted? One person is already being interviewed. 
 
I am sure I will find a few more. Watch this space ... 
 
 
 
 
1bc5a873
Community Member

I've also been repeatedly flagging clear examples of academic fraud including clients wanting people to sit online examinations for them.  They are particularly frequent at the moment. To their credit, Upwork have been taking some of these down.

 

When the fraudsters post actual assignment briefs and dissertation handbooks as part of the job description, I am now sending these to the Universities concerned - usually to tutors and cc'ing to academic deans or heads of department too.

 

In one case, the fraudster left their name on a draft document and I received the following response from the university to whom I sent the details:

 

"I wish to inform that I have escalated the your email to chair of our school’s ethics board. I have also cc’d the HoD of the Department, as well as the Director of the School and the Vice Dean of the College. [The university] takes a strong exception to these things. I can assure that the issue will be investigated further, and the full penalties shall apply if the student is found guilty."

 

I think what needs to happen is that Upwork make a very clear statement that, in the event of a universitiy instituting an academic misconduct inquiry, they (Upwork) will fully cooperate with it, disclosing client names and any other relevant contracts - such as previous requests for ghostwriters - that they might have had.  There is a serious reputational issue here both for Upwork and for freelancers who use it for legitmate academic research, tutoring, editing and proofreading.

gilbert-phyllis
Community Member

I flag these regularly, too. Was invited to not one but two of them overnight.

 

I even came across three cases of graphic design academic fraud last week, which I didn't even know was "a thing". It was very, VERY obviously course work and not real projects. I flagged them but of course they weren't taken down, and the student successfully hired designers to help them cheat. It's so reassuring to know that a new generation of freelancers will soon join Upwork using stolen portfolio work!

 

Yes, I flag these regularly, and thank you, Nichola, Christine, everyone who continues to flag. I believe that thing that makes us as a group of freelancers using this website look bad the most is the rampant academic fraud. You can get scammed anywhere online or in the real world. The FBI was involved in Operation Varsity Blues, and I don't want Upwork to be the next Operation Varsity Blues 2. And I don't want to be associated with a site that allows academic fraud, which Upwork clearly does because they do nothing to remove freelancers who continually take these jobs and they leave up the posts. Much more aggressive action needs to be taken to address this specific, rampant form of fraud. 

 

*forgive poor grammar - I just met 3 massive deadlines in one day and have uncorked the appropriate bottle of wine. 

1bc5a873
Community Member

I've been flagging job adverts and where there is identifying information, contacting the universities directly with documentation, screenshots, and student identifiers where they are provided.

 

The responses I've had have been positive, and are from senior university staff (Deans, Registrars and Head of Grad Schools). Result!  Another university investigation launched, this time at an Australian University. Smiley Very Happy

 

If Upwork do their bit, block adverts and boot out students and freelancers alike, the message may get out that the risks are too great.  

 

 

Contacting the appropriate learning facility is wonderful but terribly time consuming - time that could be spent profitably.  It would be lovely if such actions weren't necessary.  Truly the UW people who review academic fraud flags need better training and then we wouldn't have to do their jobs for them.

 

And many of these cheaters are getting away with this by making their jobs "invite only" to avoid the flags.


Mary W wrote:

Contacting the appropriate learning facility is wonderful but terribly time consuming - time that could be spent profitably.  It would be lovely if such actions weren't necessary.  Truly the UW people who review academic fraud flags need better training and then we wouldn't have to do their jobs for them.

 

And many of these cheaters are getting away with this by making their jobs "invite only" to avoid the flags.


My favorite today: "Seeking a DE ghostwriter for a term paper in the area of administrative law. Only Proofreading-Editing" The freelancer will receive a draft which needs corrected and changed to meet the requirements...

I attended college at a state school in Appalachia with no money. I paid my way through with part-time jobs and typing. I had one rate for typing from a draft and another if no draft was provided. **Edited for Community Guidelines** It was the 1960s and I was using a 1938 L.C. Smith business machine, about forty pounds.

 

Institutions, freelancers and Upwork are all accomplices. So are teachers who review papers and never detect that the Denisovan cave-dweller incapable of subject-verb agreement all semester suddenly sounds like a pro. My senior year I wrote five of the six term papers in a single course; four As and an A-. The teacher never caught on.

 

I'm not proud of it; I did it to eat. It forced me to learn to disguise my writing, to write in various styles, to mimic other writers. Those skills were useful later in life, especially when scamming scammers and shutting down criminal enterprises. No bad deed will go unrewarded.

So Bill, 

 

For you, cheating is OK, provided you have the excuse that you are hungry? I wonder what happened to those straight-A students, who were given the fine example of how to make their way in the world. 


Nichola L wrote:

So Bill, 

 

For you, cheating is OK, provided you have the excuse that you are hungry? I wonder what happened to those straight-A students, who were given the fine example of how to make their way in the world. 


Because anyone can have ethics when they don't need a job. But the ends  justify the means for Bill.  I fear for science and medicine,  and for myself considering the ethics of the  people we will put our lives in the hands of. 

Nichola, Amanda, I've confessed. I've opened myself to criticism I deserve. I submit that what had been a rash of shoplifting candy bars has become, with the internet and spread of online freelancing, nothing short of a major crime wave. My feeling about this is similar to my opinion on buyers requiring responses begin with "Babushka's aardvark" to know whether the responder had read the entire job post. Buyers who cannot differentiate between a crafted and tailored response and a "Dear Occupant" letter don't meet my standards for becoming a client.

I get 1-2 invites daily where people are asking me to do their assignments and exams. I am, to be honest, tired of this. Usually, I give them a message and decline the request with flagging to let Upwork know about it. 

 

But, I always feel confused about whether I should report them to the university? 

 

One person literally started yelling at me for saying no to do her maths exam. I literally felt bad that time, but what they ask to do is totally unethical and criminal. Some, with extremely good client profiles, who runs some businesses also requested the same thing. And when I replied to them with "it is against Upwork's policy" they tried to change the topic, anyhow I always flagged the job posting. Though, I don't know if any action was taken against them after I flagged the job. 

danielrune13
Community Member

Yeah I really don't like that. When I was studying at my university (videogame design course), I would often have people approach me and ask me to do their work for some amount of money, because unlike them, I was actually diligent.

In my country, Portugal, some people that go to college act like they're still in 12th grade. They love when they sudenlly don't have classes. They skip classes. They don't take things seriously. They're suppose to be there because they like what they're studying, right? They're paying to be there, right? They're there by their own choice, right? Are they even thinking about their future?

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