A man who earned more than £300,000 by secretly completing online coursework and exams for students has been jailed for three years, after a university investigation exposed his operation.Shahid Adnan, 34, from Liverpool, was sentenced after admitting fraud and money laundering offenses linked to a scheme involving students at Liverpool John Morris University and other universities.Adnan used students’ login details to access their accounts, complete assignments, and take online tests on their behalf in exchange for payment. He also ran a company called “Study Sharp Ltd” through which illegal businesses were carried out.The fraud was discovered on February 24, 2023 after a student provided a drive containing coursework to a senior director of computer forensics at the university. Routine checks on the device revealed that Adnan had used it previously and it contained links to his work. Further inspection also revealed spreadsheets containing other students’ personal login credentials, along with details of modules and deadlines.
The results indicate that Adnan was accessing the university’s systems to submit work and take exams fraudulently. The case was then handed over to Merseyside Police’s Cyber Crime Unit, who later executed a search warrant at his home and arrested him.Adnan later admitted that he had taken a test for a student and accessed his account using his details, for which he received £250. He said he was “unaware” that permission from the university was required to log into the account.
He may have done similar work for about 124 students at universities around the world.Adnan was living beyond his stated income as a teacher and Amazon Flex delivery driver. His accounts showed large sums of money, including £1,505,156 in a Barclays account, £600,590 in a Lloyds personal account, £245,279 in a Lloyds business account and £110,214 in PayPal. He also owned two cars, an Audi and a BMW, as well as expensive furniture.He was charged with fraud by false representation, causing a computer to perform a function to secure or enable unauthorized access to software data, and money laundering. He admitted the first two offenses on September 2, and later pleaded guilty to money laundering on October 7, 2025.A timetable has now been set to recover the money obtained from his violation.
