Man jailed for large-scale university fraud

Detectives from our Cyber Investigations Team are welcoming the sentencing of a Liverpool man to three years in prison for large-scale assessment fraud against a number of universities.

Shahid Adnan, 42, of Lysander Close, Everton, pleaded guilty and was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court today, Wednesday 17 June.

At court, Adnan was convicted of the following offences:

• Cause computer to perform function to secure unauthorised access to a program/data
• Fraud by false representation
• Conceal/disguise/convert/transfer/remove criminal property

The investigation began in March 2023 when a Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) BSc Computer Forensics student submitted a pen drive of documents for assessment.

The lecturer, Dr Tom Berry from LJMU’s School of Computer Science and Mathematics, found that the previous owner of the pen drive had inadvertently copied a host of files onto this pen drive, including student usernames, passwords, coursework submission dates, and financial information. This evidence was passed onto police who commenced an investigation.

Detective Sergeant Adam Dagnall takes up the story: "Our enquiries confirmed that Adnan was able to log into student accounts and complete assessments for them, with evidence found of payments to him from students, and of Adnan living a lifestyle well beyond his declared wealth. Adnan had a company called Study Sharp Ltd, which received payments from LJMU students, and we believe from students at other UK universities.

"Through the diligence of Dr Berry and his colleagues at LJMU, we were able to start to unravel Adnan's fraudulent activity. 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.

“Merseyside Police will keep working closely with our universities and other academic institutions when any such reports are made, and I would encourage anyone at those institutions who has information to speak to us.”

In addition to the initial pen drive discovery by Dr Berry, LJMU conducted further analysis of the IP addresses used to submit multiple pieces of student work. An IP address was shared with Merseyside Police and, along with data from the internet service provider, triangulated to an address at which the arrest of Mr Adnan was made.

A spokesperson for LJMU said: “We are pleased that the diligence of our staff and the safeguards we have in place identified this serious issue committed against a number of universities and supported the investigation by Merseyside Police.

“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.”

D/S Dagnall continues: “Adnan will serve a significant prison sentence and his operation has been dismantled. We hope this 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.

“Proceedings will now commence to recover Adnan's assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

“We always look to ensure that those who commit fraud are not allowed to see the benefit, and that ill-gotten gains are put back into our communities.”

If you have any information on suspected fraud, read more here: 

Report fraud, bribery or corruption | Merseyside Police
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