Fraud, academic dishonesty and Cressey’s Fraud Triangle

Plagiarism is often seen as an academic transgression rather than a crime, but in essence it amounts to a form of fraud. When students or even public figures claim someone else’s words or ideas as their own, they are deceiving others for personal gain – be it a higher grade, a degree, or professional acclaim. In recent years, high-profile plagiarism scandals (from university graduates losing their degrees to politicians resigning in disgrace) have underlined that plagiarism isn’t just an isolated classroom issue; it undermines trust and credibility much like financial fraud. Indeed, the very thought process behind academic cheating mirrors the mindset of a corporate fraudster. In criminology, the “fraud triangle” theory holds that three elements are typically present when fraud occurs: pressure, opportunity, and rationalisation. This framework can illuminate why plagiarism happens, and it suggests that academic dishonesty is driven by the same trio of forces that lead people to embezzle or falsify accounts. Plagiarism, in other words, follows the fraud triangle.

Pressure: the drive behind cheating

Every act of plagiarism begins with some kind of pressure or incentive. In business fraud, this pressure might be financial distress or a desperate need to hit earnings targets. In academia, the pressures are usually performance-related and can be intense. Students face high stakes – a certain exam score or grade point average might be required to get into a prestigious programme, secure a scholarship, or simply to avoid failing a class. The fear of missing out on career opportunities or letting down one’s family can push students toward dishonest shortcuts. For example, a medical school hopeful confronted with unrealistically high admission requirements might feel enormous pressure to obtain top grades by any means necessary. Likewise, a student athlete may cheat to maintain the grades needed to remain on the team. These expectations (whether externally imposed or self-imposed) create a perception that failure is not an option.

Crucially, this pressure is often perceived rather than objectively real – but to the stressed student, that distinction hardly matters. A university counselor or lecturer might look at a student’s situation and see room to recover honestly, yet the student may believe a single low mark will ruin their future. Research suggests that even high-achieving students, who seem least likely to cheat, can succumb when striving to be perfect. At elite schools with cutthroat competition, top students sometimes turn to plagiarism as a way to stay ahead of peers or to prevent one bad result from blemishing an otherwise excellent record. Fear of failure (or of losing a hard-won reputation for straight A’s) can override moral scruples. In one much-cited survey of American students, “wanting good grades and not wanting to work” was a bluntly honest explanation a student gave for cheating. Whether it’s due to procrastination, poor time management, or being overwhelmed by workload, some learners simply feel pressure when deadlines loom and they haven’t prepared – and so they plagiarise as an emergency measure. This cocktail of academic stressors is the first corner of the fraud triangle: a motive that drives the dishonest act.

Opportunity: the ease of cheating undetected

Pressure alone isn’t enough – a would-be plagiarist also needs opportunity. In fraud terms, opportunity means a belief that one can carry out the deception without getting caught. In an exam setting decades ago, opportunity might have been as simple as spotting a chance to copy a neighbour’s answers when the invigilator wasn’t looking. Today, the opportunities for plagiarism have exploded thanks to technology and shifting educational environments. The internet puts a vast repository of ready-made essays and solutions at students’ fingertips. With a few keystrokes, one can find academic papers, Wikipedia articles, or past assignments to copy and paste from. Not only is information abundant, but modern devices make it trivially easy to access – it’s not hard to discreetly consult a smartphone for answers, or to retrieve hidden notes stored in the cloud. Digital platforms have also facilitated contract cheating: if a student doesn’t want to do the work or risk copying something verbatim, countless online services (essay mills and freelance ghostwriters) stand ready to provide a bespoke essay for a fee. Until recently, these services operated in a grey zone, even advertising “plagiarism-free” guarantees to entice customers. (The UK government responded by outlawing paid essay-writing services in 2022 in a limit sense, to crack down on this practice.) Yet despite such measures, the contract cheating industry persists globally – studies in Australia, for instance, estimate that around 8% of students have purchased assignments from ghostwriters, a startling number that shows how widespread these opportunities have become.

Arguably the biggest game-changer in recent years is the rise of artificial intelligence as an aid to cheating. Powerful generative AI tools can now produce passable essays or solve homework problems on demand. To a struggling or time-pressed student, an AI like ChatGPT is essentially a free, on-call ghostwriter – an opportunity to generate original work with minimal effort. Unsurprisingly, this has led to a surge in AI-assisted academic dishonesty; researchers have observed “a notable increase in instances of AI-driven cheating, plagiarism [and] contract cheating” since these tools became widely available. The pandemic period also illustrated how circumstances can multiply opportunities to cheat. When teaching and exams moved online en masse, academic misconduct spiked: without the usual in-person supervision, students found it much easier to collaborate illicitly, consult unauthorised resources, or outsource their work. One comprehensive review confirmed that cheating and plagiarism increased significantly during COVID-era remote assessments. In short, whenever the safeguards are lowered – whether due to technological change or situational factors – the temptation to exploit those gaps grows. Opportunity is the second side of the triangle, and in today’s digital learning environment, opportunities to cheat are plentiful. It has never been easier for students to deceive instructors if they are so inclined, and unfortunately it’s also never been harder for educators to catch every instance. The perception of likely impunity is a key enabler: if students believe they can get away with plagiarism, many will find the temptation hard to resist.

Rationalisation: justifying the deceit

Even under pressure, and even with an easy opportunity, most people need to convince themselves their fraudulent act is acceptable (or at least excusable) before they actually go through with it. This final element of the fraud triangle – rationalisation – is perhaps the most psychologically intriguing. It’s the internal dialogue that transforms cheating from “I shouldn’t do this” to “It’s okay that I do this because…”. Psychologists note that individuals like to view themselves as honest, so those who cheat tend to rationalise it in order to preserve their self-image. In the context of plagiarism, students deploy a variety of justifications to downplay the wrongdoing. A very common rationalisation is blaming external factors. For instance, a student caught copying might argue that “the coursework was unfair or beyond the scope, so I had no choice”, implicitly faulting the instructor for their cheating. It’s not unusual to hear a cheating student protest, “If Professor X were a better teacher, I wouldn’t have to resort to this.” Others shift blame to the system: “The entry requirements for this programme are ridiculously high; anyone would cheat under this pressure.” In each case, the student portrays themselves as a victim of circumstance or other people’s unreasonable demands – making their dishonest response feel, in their mind, almost righteous. Another typical self-justification is minimisation of the act: students tell themselves “everyone cheats a bit” or “this isn’t a big deal; it’s not like I’m hurting anyone.” In the digital age, attitudes towards intellectual property have eroded to the point that many students genuinely don’t see copying online material as wrong. They scroll through social media feeds inundated with memes, reposts, and remixes of content, so original ownership becomes a hazy concept. Unsurprisingly, some students consider copying and pasting from the internet as “not actually cheating at all.” In one survey, over 60% of students who admitted to cheating still viewed digital plagiarism as “trivial” – essentially harmless. If they believe an act isn’t morally wrong, it’s much easier to justify doing it.

Rationalisations can also be socially reinforced. In environments where cheating is widespread, an honest student may feel like the odd one out and start rationalising dishonesty just to fit in or stay competitive. Studies have described cheating as contagious – if peers are sharing answers and seem to get away with it, others quickly begin to reason that they’d be foolish not to do the same. “Everybody in my dorm uses the same essay bank, so why shouldn’t I? I’d be sabotaging myself by not taking advantage,” goes the thinking. In this way, a culture of cheating can normalise academic fraud and provide ready-made justifications for those on the fence. Whether it’s blaming a tough teacher, citing parental pressure, trivialising the offence, or following the crowd, rationalisation completes the triangle by giving the plagiarist moral permission to cheat. It dulls the pangs of conscience and allows the dishonest act to proceed.

Breaking the triangle: preventing academic fraud

Understanding plagiarism through the fraud triangle doesn’t just explain why academic dishonesty occurs – it also points towards how we might combat it. Cressey’s fraud theory holds that if any one side of the triangle is removed, the fraudulent act will fail to materialise. In the context of plagiarism, this suggests a three-pronged strategy for educators and institutions: reduce the pressures, limit the opportunities, and challenge the rationalisations. Of these, opportunity may be the most straightforward to tackle in practical terms. Universities and schools can tighten assessment security and make cheating harder. This means continuing to invest in anti-plagiarism tools and techniques – from simple measures like multiple exam versions and active proctoring, to more sophisticated solutions like plagiarism-detection software and secure browser technology for online tests. (No technical fix is foolproof, especially with the advent of AI-generated content, but each additional deterrent raises the effort required to cheat.) Recent legislation banning commercial essay mills (albeit in a somewhat limited sense) is an example of attempting to cut off a major opportunity at the source. Likewise, if AI chatbots pose new avenues for misconduct, instructors can adapt by designing assignments that are harder for generative AI to complete and by using AI-detection tools cautiously to flag probable abuses. The goal is to shift the risk-reward calculus: when cheating becomes difficult and likely to be caught, many students will think twice before attempting it.

Addressing the pressure side of the triangle requires a more nuanced, humane approach. Academic life will always involve stress, but educators can avoid exacerbating unnecessary pressure. As one education expert put it, we may need to “turn down the pressure cooker” in our classrooms – for instance, by reducing overreliance on one-shot high-stakes exams, offering support to struggling students, and giving reasonable extensions or make-up opportunities when genuine issues arise. Teachers can also foster a growth mindset rather than a perfectionist culture, praising effort and improvement instead of only top results. This can relieve the psychological weight that every single assessment must be aced at all costs, thereby lowering the temptation to cheat. Ultimately, institutions should promote student well-being alongside academic rigour. When learners feel supported and view assessments as fair and meaningful, they are less likely to resort to plagiarism out of desperation.

The final, and arguably toughest, battle is against rationalisation. This is about changing the culture and attitudes so that cheating is universally seen as unacceptable and unnecessary. Honour codes and integrity pledges can help – they encourage students to internalise ethical academic behaviour. Some universities empower student-led honour councils to set standards and adjudicate violations, making honesty a peer-supported norm rather than just an administrative rule. Discussing the importance of academic integrity openly in the curriculum is also crucial. Students need to learn why plagiarism is wrong, not just that it is against the rules. That means emphasising values like intellectual honesty, respect for others’ work, and personal integrity. When students fully appreciate that a plagiarised paper is a hollow achievement that undermines their learning (and when they see that their school genuinely values learning over grades), the rationalisations for cheating begin to ring hollow. Educators can further nip rationalisations in the bud by building trust and rapport with students – if a student is struggling, it’s far better they seek help than seek an essay online. By showing empathy and willingness to help, teachers can prevent the adversarial mindset (“teacher versus student”) that often underlies blame-shifting excuses for cheating.

In the end, plagiarism may never be eradicated entirely – just as fraud persists in the business world despite our best efforts. But by thinking of plagiarism as a form of fraud, we gain a clearer understanding of how to counter it. We know to look not just at the dishonest act itself, but at the pressures that drive it, the opportunities that enable it, and the stories people tell themselves to justify it. Tackling academic fraud means taking a holistic approach: easing undue pressures where possible, fortifying our systems to close off easy cheating avenues, and cultivating a culture of integrity so that honesty remains the norm. If we can disrupt even one side of the fraud triangle, we make it that much harder for plagiarism to take root. And when students do earn their grades and credentials through their own effort, without resorting to deceit, it preserves the value of education – which benefits everyone in the long run.