School is difficult. Especially if you're not the kind who can churn out essay after essay. Which is why services such as this one below, spotted on Instagram, can thrive:

In case the image isn't clear — this company writes essays that you can pass off as your own. They promise to produce quality, original essays within your stated deadline so that you can hand them in on time.

According to their website, which now appears to be inaccessible (we worked on this story over the weekend), this company has been around since 2009 and completed more than 1,000 essays for customers. Many of the ghostwriters who do the work apparently hold Master's qualifications. The company also promises utmost discretion and (ironically) to uphold high standards against plagiarism.

Getting an essay isn't cheap — ordering a 3000-word report for a Bachelor's degree course can rack up a bill that goes up to $576 within the smallest window of three days' notice.

Interestingly, this "business" isn't listed on our government directory, though:

A cursory search through Carousell also yields similar services:

Thing is, these aren't illegal. Willing buyer, willing seller, amirite? Technically, the company is just writing essays for paying customers. What the customers do with these essays — sampling them, reading for leisure, or straight up passing them up as homework — is completely up to them.

Yes, it's academic fraud; yes, we're not sure how a student could sleep at night knowing they handed in work they did not do themselves; but the fact is there are no laws barring any of this.

Of course, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) hold students accountable to codes of conduct which require them to practice academic integrity. The penalty for academic fraud can be as serious as expulsion.

Of course it is entirely possible to sail through university life and receive your degree without getting caught for fraud. But at the end of the day, is it really worth it when you look at your degree knowing that it is not really your own?

Top photo adapted from Inkmypapers and Carousell

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