The Cybercrime Prosecution Directorate has filed a criminal case against a 47-year-old Greek national who was selling university and diploma theses
through Facebook .
The Cybercrime Prosecution Directorate has filed a case against a 47-year-old Greek national for the offense of direct complicity in making a false report to the Authority.
In particular, a profile was found on the social networking website "Facebook", through which its administrators undertook the preparation and editing of university papers for a fee. According to the profile, the administrators had created a website where the writing of university papers was carried out during the semesters, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate theses for various degrees.
The above was brought to the attention of the Athens First Instance Prosecutor's Office and an order was issued to conduct a preliminary examination.
From the digital analysis carried out by the Cybercrime Prosecution Directorate, it emerged that the administrator was the 47-year-old Greek national, while in a search carried out at his home, the following were found and seized:
- two (2) deposit books and three (3) pages with bank account transactions, with details of the 47-year-old,
- internal hard drive,
- folder with handwritten notes and printouts.
Furthermore, during the on-site investigation of his computer, spreadsheets (Excel) were found, from which it emerged that he collaborated with at least one hundred and eight (108) people, whom he used as authors of the papers.
Additionally, it was found that two hundred (200) people had expressed interest in preparing university, undergraduate and postgraduate theses, which were accepted, while the profit and "clientele" will result from the further analysis of the digital evidence.
Indicatively, from the data so far, it appears that the theses concern the specialties of the University Schools:
- Human Resources Management
- Copyright
- Informatics
- Marketing – Advertising
- International Economic Relations
- Business Administration
- Tourist
- Neurology – Neurophysiology
- History
- Preschool Education
- Marketing
- Internet and Agriculture
- Industrial Waste
- Construction Dynamics
- Modern Greek Language
- Work Stress
- Literature
- Renewable Energy Sources
- Natural gas.
The seized digital evidence will be sent to the Criminal Investigations Directorate for laboratory examination.
The pre-investigation material, which includes the list of names of the students who purchased their thesis, as well as the authors of the said papers, will be submitted to the Athens District Court Prosecutor's Office.
