A sprawling academic cheating network turbocharged by Google Ads that has generated nearly $25 million in revenue has curious ties to a Kremlin-connected oligarch whose Russian university builds drones for Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/krebsonsecurity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/nerdifyhomepage.png?resize=748%2C506&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nThe Nerdify homepage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The link between essay mills and Russian attack drones might seem improbable, but understanding it begins with a simple question: How does a human-intensive academic cheating service stay relevant in an era when students can simply ask AI to write their term papers? The answer \u2013 recasting the business as an AI company \u2013 is just the latest chapter in a story of many rebrands that link the operation to Russia\u2019s largest private university.<\/p>\n
Search in Google for any terms related to academic cheating services \u2014 e.g., \u201chelp with exam online\u201d or \u201cterm paper online\u201d \u2014 and you\u2019re likely to encounter websites with the words \u201cnerd\u201d or \u201cgeek\u201d in them, such as thenerdify[.]com<\/strong> and geekly-hub[.]com<\/strong>. With a simple request sent via text message, you can hire their tutors to help with any assignment.<\/p>\n These nerdy and geeky-branded websites frequently cite their \u201chonor code,\u201d which emphasizes they do not condone academic cheating, will not write your term papers for you, and will only offer support and advice for customers. But according to This Isn\u2019t Fine<\/a>, a Substack blog about contract cheating and essay mills, the Nerdify brand of websites will happily ignore that mantra.<\/p>\n \u201cWe tested the quick SMS for a price quote,\u201d wrote This Isn\u2019t Fine author Joseph Thibault<\/strong>. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n A screenshot from Joseph Thibault\u2019s Substack post shows him purchasing a 3-page paper with the Nerdify service.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Google prohibits ads that \u201cenable dishonest behavior.\u201d Yet, a sprawling global essay and homework cheating network run under the Nerdy brands has quietly bought its way to the top of Google searches \u2013 booking revenues of almost $25 million through a maze of companies in Cyprus, Malta and Hong Kong, while pitching \u201ctutoring\u201d that delivers finished work that students can turn in.<\/p>\n When one Nerdy-related Google Ads account got shut down, the group behind the company would form a new entity with a front-person (typically a young Ukrainian woman), start a new ads account along with a new website and domain name (usually with \u201cnerdy\u201d in the brand), and resume running Google ads for the same set of keywords.<\/p>\n UK companies belonging to the group that have been shut down by Google Ads since Jan 2025 include:<\/p>\n \u2013Proglobal Solutions LTD<\/strong> (advertised nerdifyit[.]com); Currently active Google Ads accounts for the Nerdify brands include:<\/p>\n -OK Marketing LTD<\/strong> (advertising geekly-hub[.]net\u2069), formed in the name of Olha Karpenko<\/strong>, a young Ukrainian woman; Google\u2019s Ads Transparency page for current Nerdify advertiser OK Marketing LTD.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Pokatilo has been in the essay-writing business since at least 2009, operating a paper-mill enterprise called Livingston Research alongside Alexander Korsukov<\/strong>, who is listed as an owner. According to a lengthy account from a former employee<\/a>, Livingston Research mainly farmed its writing tasks out to low-cost workers from Kenya, Philippines, Pakistan, Russia and Ukraine.<\/p>\n Pokatilo moved from Ukraine to the United Kingdom in Sept. 2015 and co-founded a company called Awesome Technologies<\/strong>, which pitched itself as a way for people to outsource tasks by sending a text message to the service\u2019s assistants.<\/p>\n The other co-founder of Awesome Technologies is 36-year-old Filip Perkon<\/strong>, a Swedish man living in London who touts himself as a serial entrepreneur and investor. Years before starting Awesome together, Perkon and Pokatilo co-founded a student group called Russian Business Week<\/strong> while the two were classmates at the London School of Economics. According to the Bulgarian investigative journalist Christo Grozev<\/strong>, Perkon\u2019s birth certificate was issued by the Soviet Embassy in Sweden.<\/p>\n Alexey Pokatilo (left) and Filip Perkon at a Facebook event for startups in San Francisco in mid-2015.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Around the time Perkon and Pokatilo launched Awesome Technologies, Perkon was building a social media propaganda tool called the Russian Diplomatic Online Club<\/strong>, which Perkon said would \u201cturbo-charge\u201d Russian messaging online. The club\u2019s newsletter urged subscribers to install in their Twitter accounts a third-party app called Tweetsquad<\/a> that would retweet Kremlin messaging on the social media platform.<\/p>\n Perkon was praised by the Russian Embassy in London for his efforts: During the contentious Brexit vote that ultimately led to the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, the Russian embassy in London used this spam tweeting tool to auto-retweet the Russian ambassador\u2019s posts from supporters\u2019 accounts<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Neither Mr. Perkon nor Mr. Pokatilo replied to requests for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n A review of corporations tied to Mr. Perkon as indexed by the business research service North Data<\/strong> finds he holds or held director positions in several U.K. subsidiaries of Synergy<\/strong>, Russia\u2019s largest private education provider. Synergy has more than 35,000 students, and sells T-shirts with patriotic slogans such as \u201cCrimea is Ours,\u201d and \u201cThe Russian Empire \u2014 Reloaded.\u201d<\/p>\n The president of Synergy is Vadim Lobov<\/strong>, a Kremlin insider whose headquarters on the outskirts of Moscow reportedly features a wall-sized portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/strong> in the pop-art style of Andy Warhol. For a number of years, Lobov and Perkon co-produced a cross-cultural event in the U.K. called Russian Film Week<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Synergy President Vadim Lobov and Filip Perkon, speaking at a press conference for Russian Film Week, a cross-cultural event in the U.K. co-produced by both men.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Lobov was one of 11 individuals reportedly hand-picked<\/a> by the convicted Russian spy Marina Butina<\/a> to attend the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast held in Washington D.C. just two weeks after President Trump\u2019s first inauguration.<\/p>\n While Synergy University promotes itself as Russia\u2019s largest private educational institution, hundreds of international students tell a different story. Online reviews from students paint a picture of unkept promises: Prospective students from Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and other nations paying thousands in advance fees for promised study visas to Russia, only to have their applications denied with no refunds offered.<\/p>\n \u201cMy experience with Synergy University has been nothing short of heartbreaking,\u201d reads one such account. \u201cWhen I first discovered the school, their representative was extremely responsive and eager to assist. He communicated frequently and made me believe I was in safe hands. However, after paying my hard-earned tuition fees, my visa was denied. It\u2019s been over 9 months since that denial, and despite their promises, I have received no refund whatsoever. My messages are now ignored, and the same representative who once replied instantly no longer responds at all. 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 \u2014 it\u2019s predatory.\u201d<\/p>\n This pattern repeats across reviews by multilingual students from Pakistan, Nepal, India, and various African nations \u2014 all describing the same scheme: Attractive online marketing, promises of easy visa approval, upfront payment requirements, and then silence after visa denials.<\/p>\n Reddit discussions in r\/Moscow and r\/AskARussian are filled with warnings. \u201cIt\u2019s a scam, a diploma mill,\u201d writes one user. \u201cThey literally sell exams. There was an investigation on Rossiya-1 television showing students paying to pass tests.\u201d<\/p>\n The Nerdify website\u2019s \u201cAbout Us\u201d page says the company was co-founded by Pokatilo and an American named Brian Mellor<\/strong>. The latter identity seems to have been fabricated, or at least there is no evidence that a person with this name ever worked at Nerdify.<\/p>\n Rather, it appears that the SMS assistance company co-founded by Messrs. Pokatilo and Perkon (Awesome Technologies) fizzled out shortly after its creation, and that Nerdify soon adopted the process of accepting assignment requests via text message and routing them to freelance writers.<\/p>\n A closer look at an early \u201cAbout Us\u201d page for Nerdify in The Wayback Machine suggests that Mr. Perkon was the real co-founder of the company: The photo at the top of the page shows four people wearing Nerdify T-shirts seated around a table on a rooftop deck in San Francisco, and the man facing the camera is Perkon.<\/p>\n Filip Perkon, top right, is pictured wearing a Nerdify T-shirt in an archived copy of the company\u2019s About Us page. Image: archive.org.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Where are they now? Pokatilo is currently running a startup called <\/span>Litero.Ai<\/span><\/a>, which appears to be an AI-based essay writing service. In July 2025, Mr. Pokatilo received pre-seed funding of $800,000 for Litero from an investment program backed by the venture capital firms AltaIR Capital, Yellow Rocks, Smart Partnership Capital, and I2BF Global Ventures.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Filip Perkon is busy setting up toy rubber duck stores in Miami<\/a> and in at least three locations in the United Kingdom<\/a>. These \u201cDuck World\u201d shops market themselves as \u201cthe world\u2019s largest duck store.\u201d<\/p>\n This past week, Mr. Lobov was in India with Putin\u2019s entourage<\/a> on a charm tour with India\u2019s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Although Synergy is billed as an educational institution, a review of the company\u2019s sprawling corporate footprint (via DNS) shows it also is assisting the Russian government in its war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n Synergy University President Vadim Lobov (right) pictured this week in India next to Natalia Popova, a Russian TV presenter known for her close ties to Putin\u2019s family, particularly Putin\u2019s daughter, who works with Popova at the education and culture-focused Innopraktika Foundation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The website bpla.s<\/strong>ynergy[.]bot<\/strong>, for instance, says the company is involved in developing combat drones to aid Russian forces and to evade international sanctions on the supply and re-export of high-tech products.<\/p>\n A screenshot from the website of synergy,bot shows the company is actively engaged in building armed drones for the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n KrebsOnSecurity would like to thank the anonymous researcher NatInfoSec<\/a> for their assistance in this investigation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/krebsonsecurity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/nerdify-thibault.png?resize=1082%2C521&ssl=1\")
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\n\u2013AW Tech Limited<\/strong> (advertised thenerdify[.]com);
\n\u2013Geekly Solutions Ltd<\/strong> (advertised geekly-hub[.]com).<\/p>\n
\n\u2013Two Sigma Solutions LTD<\/strong> (advertising litero[.]ai), formed in the name of Olekszij Pokatilo<\/strong>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/krebsonsecurity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/googleads-okmarketing.png?resize=748%2C480&ssl=1\")
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