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Although steps have been taken by the Irish authorities, such as the enactment of legislation penalizing essay mills, officials believe that universities need targeted funding to help protect the quality and integrity of teaching and learning. Reports show that 10% of students may have used contract cheating services and they can be difficult to detect as they can go undetected by plagiarism detection software.

Four students have been arrested for allegedly engaging in malpractice during the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations via Whatsapp and Telegram platforms. Detectives used cyber and digital forensics to intercept dozens of messages containing screenshots of the papers that are currently being examined. According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Ministry of Education’s efforts to preserve the integrity of administering the examination have been jeopardized by corrupted government officials.

To increase the marketing of their services, essay mills are now using comparison websites. According to an expert on academic integrity and cheating, there are over a thousand sites on one comparison site. Many of these sites provide buy-one-get-one-free or loyalty schemes, and when students try to withdraw, they can become the victims of blackmail, targeted by fake legal letters. The UK Government is introducing legislation to ban essay mills and advertising for them, but as most are based overseas, experts fear they are beyond the reach of the legislation.

A study by The Center for Academic Integrity reveals that 80% of college students today admit to having cheated in some way at least once. To track down plagiarism in students’ work, professors use online plagiarism scanning tools, like Turnitin. At Huntington University, punishment for students who commit plagiarism varies by the professor, ranging from failure of the assignment plagiarized to the entire course. However, 7 out of 10 students questioned the accuracy of tools like Turnitin stating that professors should do backup checks before grading.

A study by a professor of cyber ethics and academic integrity at the University of Wollongong in Dubai identified 34 rogue businesses promoting online contract cheating services. There has been nearly a 200% increase through a site which students regularly use to get help, often with exam-style questions being posted with a request by the student to get the answers back quickly. The price would range from $40 (Dh150) for an exam question to thousands of dollars for a 10,000-word report.