Scam Warning: Livingston Research

"Academic writing" sites are a hot-button issue in freelance writer circles. It's a code word for sites where students can pay for essays, homework and such. Many writers detest them for ethical reasons and won't go near one.

I'm more "eh" on the subject since I really feel that formal education is, as my Australian friends would put it, something of a "rort" in a lot of cases. I'm not a fan of these sites, but my avoiding them is more about their reputation for being run from third-world countries and being shady as hell. Also paying absolute crap.

So Livingston Research, which is one such "academic writing" site, is something you would usually never see mentioned here. Just wouldn't bother with it. If it were just an ethical question, I wouldn't feel it was worth covering. Don't have time to track down and neg every essay site out there.

However, reader k_kiko wrote in with a story that, if true, would indicate that Livingston Research is actively scamming writers out of money.

Here's what they had to say:

"Hi, I was just wondering if you had any experience with Livingston Research. I think this site may be a scam. They ask you to do two sample essays for them, for which you are supposed to be paid $20 regardless of the results. The scam is that there is no way to cash out. You do the essays, they reject you, and then there is no way to access the money they supposedly paid. They just tell you to apply again in a few months."

Yeah, that sounds scammy to me. Let's check it out.

Investigating Livingston Research


via GIPHY


As you approach the site and begin setting up a new account, they take pains to never come right out and say that you're doing people's homework and class papers for them. They couch it all as being some sort of "academic research" and "homework assistance."

I created an account using a bogus name and throwaway email address. Very little in the way of personal info is asked other than a PayPal address, so this part was easy. You're launched almost directly into the site's style guide and training materials, for which you're supposed to be paid $5 just for reviewing and passing a quiz. A little counter in the upper-right indicates that you do indeed appear to be earning actual money as you complete these things.

The next test is your first sample essay. I was tipped off by k_kiko that this is actually a fake-out, however. They make it appear as if your essay will be reviewed, but what actually happens is that once you submit it they just forward you to an "ideal" sample of that same topic instead (which appears to be far too involved for the paltry $5 per 300 word page they are offering). So, as I did, you can just bang out a masterpiece such as this and upload it as a .doc to move the process forward:

Truth be told, you could probably just upload a blank document.

At this point we appear to have $10 in our coffers. It's time for the final essay; you select from a list of a few different topics, and this will be reviewed by someone on their staff.

I wasn't about to do this, but k_kiko sent me their sample essay upon request so I could get some sense of Livingston Research's lofty standard for that rich 1.5 cents per word they offer. k_kiko tells me that the scoring categories looked as if they were just randomly selected by a RNG or a small animal. I won't share their essay here for privacy's sake, but it appeared to merit a "poor" English rating from Livingston. It was not at all poor.

k_kiko also took a screenshot of their current state of affairs on the site for me. Once rejected, you are locked into a "please come back in a few months" screen and can do nothing else. Your alleged $20 balance is sitting there, but there is no option to cash out.

In my eyes, this is straight fraud. Essentially, Livingston Research offers paid training but does not tell you that being accepted to the platform is a condition of being able to cash out. Unfortunately, they are based in the Ukraine so legal recourse from any other country basically doesn't exist.

My suspicion is that they are farming free work - the final "test" is actually an order they need filled, or a topic that comes up often that they want to have a stock of on hand. You get auto-rejected with some random rating, they keep and sell your test essay, and never pay you the promised training funds. The ease of getting in with little verifiable personal information and with which they supposedly fork over money to you for doing next to nothing supports this.

Whatever the case, there is no reason to give this site even a second of your time. Even if they were above board, $5 per page breaks down to a rate that is piss-poor for even new and not particularly great freelance writers. Hell, Textbroker is actually a better option, they may be exploity assholes but at least they pay as agreed.

I know some of you will feel that writers getting scammed by this place are getting "just desserts" for participating in an unethical industry. I'm less judgmental about people who are new, confused and possibly desperate for money - exactly the type that scam operations like this target. Let's meet in the middle and agree that regardless of the specific reason, this sleazebag site deserves to be starved of business and to disappear forever.

Further Reading:

* Reddit thread

* They apparently charge writers some sort of "fines" as well? Unbelievable.