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Amazon Driver Jailed In Exam Cheating Case

Editorial Team3 min readUpdated
NewsAmazon Driver Jailed In Exam Cheating Case

An Amazon driver jailed for running an exam-cheating operation has been sentenced to three years in prison after prosecutors said he posed as university students to complete coursework and online tests for cash.

Shahid Adnan, 43, from Liverpool, was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on June 17 after admitting fraud, money laundering, and a hacking offence. According to the Crown Prosecution Service, Adnan made more than $400,000 through the scheme, which involved accessing student accounts and submitting academic work in their names.

How the cheating scheme worked

Adnan worked as an Amazon Flex delivery driver and tutor, and also ran a company called Study Sharp Ltd. Prosecutors said he used students’ login details for Liverpool John Moores University to enter university systems and complete assignments, coursework, and online exams.

The arrangement was bluntly transactional: students paid him, and he did the work that was supposed to prove they had learned the material. A minor flaw in that plan was the part where universities tend to object to impersonation, unauthorized account access, and paid academic fraud.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Adnan admitted sitting an exam for one student after logging into that student’s Liverpool John Moores University account. He told investigators he had been paid around $337 for that service, but claimed he did not know he needed university permission to access the account.

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A USB stick led investigators to him

The case began to unravel in February 2023, when a student handed a USB stick containing coursework to a senior manager in Liverpool John Moores University’s computer forensics department.

After examining the device, the manager found it had previously been used by Adnan. Documents stored on the USB stick also connected it to Study Sharp Ltd.

Investigators later uncovered Excel spreadsheets containing details of other students. Those records included:

  • student information
  • university modules
  • coursework deadlines
  • login credentials

That discovery widened the inquiry beyond a single piece of suspicious coursework. Police and prosecutors came to believe Adnan may have completed work for 124 students at universities around the world.

Police found millions in accounts

Once police examined Adnan’s finances, they found a lifestyle that did not match his declared income as an Amazon driver.

Authorities identified large sums across several accounts, including:

  • around $2 million in Barclays
  • roughly $810,000 in a personal Lloyds account
  • about $331,000 in a Lloyds business account
  • around $149,000 in PayPal

Police also found that Adnan owned an Audi and a BMW. His home contained expensive furnishings and appliances, according to the prosecution.

The figures found in his accounts far exceeded the more than $400,000 prosecutors said he made through the cheating operation. The money laundering charge reflects the financial side of the case, not just the academic misconduct at its center.

Academic dishonesty is taken seriously, university says

Liverpool John Moores University said it 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,” the university said.

The case lands at an uncomfortable moment for higher education, where online exams, remote coursework, and login-based learning systems have made access easier for students and, when misused, for people pretending to be them.

Adnan’s sentence also underlines the difference between ordinary cheating and a paid impersonation operation involving university systems, student credentials, and substantial sums of money. In court terms, that is not a clever shortcut. It is fraud with spreadsheets.

About The Hook Editorial Team

Editorial Team

The Hook Editorial Team delivers daily news reporting and analysis.