A private tutor who charged money to sit dozens of exams for students and submit coursework for them has been jailed for three years after his scam earned him £300,000.

Shahid Adnan completed assignments and online tests for more than 120 students at Liverpool John Moore’s University, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

The 43-year-old, of Lysander Close, Liverpool, was caught in February 2023 after a student handed in a USB drive containing suspicious coursework to Dr Tom Berry of the university’s school of computer science and mathematics.

Berry’s checks revealed the drive was used by Adnan with documents linked to a company he set up called Study Sharp Ltd.

Excel spreadsheets containing details of other students, their study modules, coursework due dates, and their personal login credentials were also found.

Further checks confirmed suspicions that Adnan was accessing the university’s network to submit fraudulent work and sit eaminations on behalf of students.

Adnan admitted to detectives that he sat an exam on behalf of the student who handed in the USB drive, and that he had logged into the uni’s systems using the student’s personal details – and was paid £250 for the service.

He said he was “not aware” of requiring authority from the university to log into the account.

Police found he was living a lifestyle well beyond what would be expected from his stated occupations as a private tutor and an Amazon delivery driver.

They uncovered three bank accounts he was running as well as a trading account, and 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.

‘Lavish lifestyle’

Cash connected to the fraud were also found by officers.

Further investigations led police to believe Adnan may have been doing work for 124 students at universities all over the world.

Adnan admitted fraud by false representation and causing a computer to perform a function to secure or enable unauthorised access to a programme date before magistrates in Bootle.

He first denied but later admitted a third offence of converting criminal property, otherwise known as money laundering, at Liverpool Crown Court.

Senior crown prosecutor Andrew Madden said Adnan created complex audit trails with his bank accounts to try and avoid detection and lived a “lavish lifestyle to use up the money he made and avoid having to pay it back”.

Det Sgt Adam Dagnall praised the academic who uncovered the scam.

“Through the diligence of Dr Berry and his university colleagues, we were able to start to 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.”