Daniel Olivas, better known by his online alias “Wankio67,” is an infamous essay mill ghostwriter who gained significant notoriety for his work with EssayShark, one of the largest essay mills in operation today. While ghostwriting for commercial essay companies violates academic integrity and helps students cheat, Wankio67’s story provides a unique window into this murky industry and the individuals whose work fuels academic dishonesty on a massive scale.
Wankio67 began freelancing for essay mills in 2013 after struggling to find stable work following the Great Recession. He was introduced to the essay mill world by a friend and found that he could consistently earn $15-20/hour writing essays, which was attractive given his financial hardship. Over the next five years, Wankio wrote thousands of essays for dozens of clients on any academic subject from anthropology to zoology.
During this time, EssayShark was rapidly growing to become one of the largest entities in the online paper writing industry. According to estimates, EssayShark completes over 20,000 orders per month, generating millions in annual revenues. As a top-rated writer with EssayShark, Wankio67 personally filled hundreds of orders and became well-known within the company, growing his client base through word-of-mouth referrals from satisfied customers.
Despite the financial benefits, Wankio67 had mixed feelings about his work. He knew it directly undermined academic integrity but saw few better options to support himself at the time. Additionally, the workload could be grueling—he often worked 12+ hours per day, 7 days a week to fulfill high-priority rush orders. The working conditions took both an emotional and physical toll over time.
There were also constant ethical dilemmas. While most orders involved writing new papers from scratch, some clients would try to pass off heavily plagiarized past assignments as their own for Wankio67 to modify. He had to decide how much plagiarized content, if any, he was comfortable incorporating into papers. Additionally, some requests crossed obvious ethical lines like asking him to write medical school application papers, which concerned Wankio67 given their real-world implications.
In late 2018, Wankio67’s identity and work with EssayShark was exposed in a viral Medium exposé. The piece, which was shared tens of thousands of times online, included screenshots of Wankio67’s writer profile on EssayShark under his online alias along with excerpts of papers he had written for clients. It brought new scrutiny on both the fraudulent services essay mills enable and the individuals whose livelihoods depend on academically dishonest work.
In the aftermath, Wankio67’s writing orders with EssayShark dried up overnight as his identity and role in fueling contract cheating became publicly known. EssayShark also temporarily suspended his account. The exposure opened Wankio67’s eyes to the moral complexities of ghostwriting. In 2019, he publicly came forward to speak about his experiences and initiated efforts to combat the essay mill industry he had relied on.
Since leaving EssayShark, Wankio67 has become an outspoken advocate against the proliferation of essay mills and contract cheating services. He has given numerous invited talks to universities, academic associations, and student groups around the world about the realities of ghostwriting from the inside. Wankio67’s nuanced perspective highlighting both the systemic factors driving individuals into ghostwriting as well as the moral and educational harms has helped further important conversations around academic integrity.
In 2020, Wankio67 founded Anonymous Academics, a nonprofit organization focused on research and advocacy against contract cheating. Through data-driven reports and public awareness campaigns, Anonymous Academics aims to curb the multi-billion dollar essay mill industry while promoting ethical alternatives to support students struggling academically. They also provide counseling services for individuals wanting to leave ghostwriting careers.
While the long-term impacts of Wankio67’s decisions and ghostwriting tenure are complex, his story and subsequent activism illustrate both the complex personal factors that drive participation in the “academic labor” industry as well as the pragmatic steps stakeholders can take to address its root causes. By speaking openly about his experiences, mistakes and growth, Wankio67 has advanced public understanding of these multifaceted issues and helped reshape a once covert issue into a forum for thoughtful discussion. His continued advocacy demonstrates how individuals can positively channel past misdeeds into driving meaningful change—a hopeful sign that even entrenched academic problems may gradually improve through open dialogue and collective progress.