Search Google for terms related to academic cheating services, such as "help with exam online" or "term paper online," and you’re likely to encounter websites with "nerd" or "geek" in their names, like thenerdify[.]com and geekly-hub[.]com. With a simple text message, students can hire these services for assignment assistance. These "nerdy" and "geeky" branded websites often feature an "honor code" that claims they do not condone academic cheating, will not write term papers, and only offer support and advice. However, according to This Isn’t Fine, a Substack blog focused on contract cheating and essay mills, the Nerdify brand of websites readily disregards this mantra. Joseph Thibault, the author of This Isn’t Fine, reported, "We tested the quick SMS for a price quote. The honor code references and platitudes apparently stop at the website. Within three minutes, we confirmed that a full three-page, plagiarism- and AI-free MLA formatted Argumentative essay could be ours for the low price of $141."

Google prohibits ads that "enable dishonest behavior." Yet, a vast global network of essay and homework cheating services operating under the "Nerdy" brands has quietly secured top positions in Google searches, accumulating almost $25 million in revenue through a complex web of companies in Cyprus, Malta, and Hong Kong, all while marketing "tutoring" that delivers finished assignments for students to submit. When a Nerdy-related Google Ads account was shut down, the group behind the company would establish a new entity, often fronted by a young Ukrainian woman, create a new ads account and website domain (typically incorporating "nerdy" into the brand), and resume advertising for the same keywords.

Since January 2025, several UK companies linked to this group have been deactivated by Google Ads, including Proglobal Solutions LTD (which advertised nerdifyit[.]com), AW Tech Limited (advertised thenerdify[.]com), and Geekly Solutions Ltd (advertised geekly-hub[.]com). Currently active Google Ads accounts for the Nerdify brands include OK Marketing LTD, advertising geekly-hub[.]net©, registered under Olha Karpenko, a young Ukrainian woman. Another is Two Sigma Solutions LTD, advertising litero[.]ai, registered under Olekszij (Alexey) Pokatilo.

Mr. Pokatilo has been involved in the essay-writing business since at least 2009, co-founding the paper-mill enterprise Livingston Research with Alexander Korsukov. A detailed account from a former employee indicates that Livingston Research primarily outsourced its writing tasks to low-cost workers in Kenya, the Philippines, Pakistan, Russia, and Ukraine. Pokatilo relocated from Ukraine to the United Kingdom in September 2015 and co-founded Awesome Technologies, a service that allowed users to outsource tasks by sending text messages to its assistants.

The other co-founder of Awesome Technologies is Filip Perkon, a 36-year-old Swedish national residing in London, who presents himself as a serial entrepreneur and investor. Years before co-founding Awesome, Perkon and Pokatilo were classmates at the London School of Economics and co-founded a student group called Russian Business Week. According to investigative journalist Christo Grozev, Perkon’s birth certificate was issued by the Soviet Embassy in Sweden.

Around the time Perkon and Pokatilo launched Awesome Technologies, Perkon was developing a social media propaganda tool called the Russian Diplomatic Online Club, which Perkon claimed would "turbo-charge" Russian messaging online. The club’s newsletter encouraged subscribers to install a third-party app called Tweetsquad on their Twitter accounts to retweet Kremlin messaging. The Russian Embassy in London praised Perkon’s efforts; during the contentious Brexit vote, the Russian embassy used this automated tweeting tool to retweet the Russian ambassador’s posts from supporters’ accounts. Neither Mr. Perkon nor Mr. Pokatilo responded to requests for comment.

A review of corporations linked to Mr. Perkon, as indexed by the business research service North Data, reveals he holds or has held director positions in several UK subsidiaries of Synergy University, Russia’s largest private educational institution. Synergy boasts over 35,000 students and sells merchandise with patriotic slogans like "Crimea is Ours" and "The Russian Empire – Reloaded." The president of Synergy University is Vadim Lobov, a Kremlin insider whose Moscow headquarters reportedly features a wall-sized portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin in a pop-art style. For several years, Lobov and Perkon co-produced a cross-cultural event in the UK called Russian Film Week.

Mr. Lobov was reportedly among 11 individuals hand-picked by convicted Russian spy Marina Butina to attend the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C., shortly after President Trump’s first inauguration. While Synergy University promotes itself as Russia’s largest private educational institution, numerous international students report unfulfilled promises. Online reviews from students in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and other nations describe paying thousands in advance fees for promised study visas to Russia, only to have their applications denied without refunds. One review states, "My experience with Synergy University has been nothing short of heartbreaking. … After paying my hard-earned tuition fees, my visa was denied. It’s been over 9 months since that denial, and despite their promises, I have received no refund whatsoever. … Synergy University, how can an institution in Europe feel comfortable exploiting the hopes of Africans who trust you with their life savings? This is not just unethical – it’s predatory." This pattern is consistent across reviews from multilingual students from Pakistan, Nepal, India, and various African nations, all detailing the same scheme: attractive online marketing, promises of easy visa approval, upfront payment requirements, and subsequent silence after visa denials. Reddit discussions on r/Moscow and r/AskARussian are replete with warnings, with one user writing, "It’s a scam, a diploma mill. They literally sell exams. There was an investigation on Rossiya-1 television showing students paying to pass tests."

The Nerdify website’s "About Us" page claims the company was co-founded by Pokatilo and an American named Brian Mellor. However, evidence suggests this identity may be fabricated, as no record of a person with that name working at Nerdify has been found. It appears that Awesome Technologies, the SMS assistance company co-founded by Messrs. Pokatilo and Perkon, fizzled out shortly after its inception, and Nerdify subsequently adopted the practice of accepting assignment requests via text message and routing them to freelance writers. A closer examination of an early "About Us" page for Nerdify on The Wayback Machine suggests that Mr. Perkon was the actual co-founder; the photograph at the top of the page shows four individuals wearing Nerdify T-shirts seated around a table on a rooftop deck in San Francisco, with Perkon facing the camera.

Pokatilo is currently running a startup called Litero.Ai, which appears to be an AI-based essay writing service. In July 2025, Mr. Pokatilo received $800,000 in pre-seed funding for Litero from an investment program backed by venture capital firms AltaIR Capital, Yellow Rocks, Smart Partnership Capital, and I2BF Global Ventures. Meanwhile, Filip Perkon is establishing "Duck World" toy rubber duck stores in Miami and at least three locations in the United Kingdom, marketing them as "the world’s largest duck store." This past week, Mr. Lobov was in India with President Putin’s entourage on a diplomatic visit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Although Synergy is presented as an educational institution, a review of the company’s extensive corporate footprint reveals it is also assisting the Russian government in its war against Ukraine. The website bpla.synergy[.]bot, for example, states that the company is involved in developing combat drones to support Russian forces and to circumvent international sanctions on the supply and re-export of high-tech products.

KrebsOnSecurity thanks the anonymous researcher NatInfoSec for their assistance in this investigation.

Update, Dec. 8, 10:06 a.m. ET: Mr. Pokatilo responded to requests for comment, stating he has no relation to Synergy or Mr. Lobov and that his work with Mr. Perkon concluded with the dissolution of Awesome Technologies. "I have had no involvement in any of his projects and business activities mentioned in the article and he has no involvement in Litero.ai," Pokatilo said of Perkon. Mr. Pokatilo asserted that his new company Litero "does not provide contract cheating services and is built specifically to improve transparency and academic integrity in the age of universal use of AI by students." He added, "I am Ukrainian. My close friends, colleagues, and some family members continue to live in Ukraine under the ongoing invasion. Any suggestion that I or my company may be connected in any way to Russia’s war efforts is deeply offensive on a personal level and harmful to the reputation of Litero.ai, a company where many team members are Ukrainian."

Update, Dec. 11, 12:07 p.m. ET: Mr. Perkon responded to requests for comment, explaining that the photo of him in a Nerdify T-shirt was taken after a startup event in San Francisco, where he volunteered as a photo model for friends. "I have no business or other relations to Nerdify or any other ventures in that space," Mr. Perkon stated. Regarding Vadim Lobov, Perkon mentioned working for Synergy’s venture capital arm until 2013 and a UK business school project that did not materialize. He also noted Synergy sponsored his Russian Film Week event, which he ran until 2022. Since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022, he closed the festival. Perkon added that he has had no business with Vadim Lobov since 2021 and does not track his endeavors. Concerning Alexey Pokatilo, Perkon described them as university friends whose business relationship ended years ago after their concierge service, Awesome Technologies, failed.