University essay cheating mastermind Yingying Dou responds to investigation Amy McNeilage and Lisa Visentin explained how they broke the MyMaster story in this video earlier in November PT1M43S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-3k3lb 620 349 November 11, 2014 University cheating mastermind Yingying Dou has responded to The Sydney Morning Herald's investigation after nine days, telling the journalists who uncovered the scandal to "go to hell." Ms Dou is the founder and sole owner of the company at the heart of the storm, MyMaster Group Pty Ltd. Yingying Dou, who is the director of the MyMaster website, walks out the back entrance of Yingcredible Tutoring when the Herald spoke to her on November 10. On Friday morning, a message appeared on the website, proclaiming: "Go To Hell, Amy And Lisa." It apparently refers to Herald journalists Amy McNeilage and Lisa Visentin, who investigated Ms Dou's operations. The MyMaster website formerly allowed students to pay to have their university essays written by experienced graduates. The message on MyMaster on Friday. Ms Dou, 30, a Chinese-born businesswoman, who also goes by the name of "Serena," used her accounting degree to build the lucrative ghostwriting service, aimed at Chinese international students. Up to 1000 students were known to have used the service, mostly international students who struggled with English. Some paid up to $1000 to have their assignments completed my another person. As a flyer for MyMaster shows, Ms Dou capitalised ingeniously on the anxiety experienced by many overseas students. Leave your worries to MyMaster and make your study easier!," one flyer, posted on a toilet door at the University of Technology, Sydney, read. Ms Dou shut down the website after the Herald made inquiries. As sole director of the business, Ms Dou turned over at least $160,000 a year from the cheating service. When Fairfax Media approached Ms Dou this month, she denied having ever heard of the website but promised she would investigate the matter. Fairfax Media's subsequent email questions remain unanswered and the MyMaster website was taken down hours later. Born in Chongqing in south-western China, Ms Dou attended high school at Pittwater House, a private school on Sydney's northern beaches. She runs Yingcredible Tutoring out of an office opposite World Square in the city, offering one-on-one and group tutoring primarily to finance and accounting students. She has been absent from work since the Herald's investigation was published and did not appear to be at her office on Friday morning. Two males at the office, who identified themselves as students, said they did not know where she was. After the story broke, the Herald's education team was inundated with tips from dozens of academics indicating that the problem of cheating and plagiarism at universities is widespread. The matter has been referred to the federal regulator of universities, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, which is responsible for assuring the quality of Australia's universities. Tertiary institutions across NSW, including the University of Newcastle and the University of Wollongong, have been in damage control since the story broke and have since pledged to investigate the use of the MyMaster website by their students. Professor Andrew Parfitt, the deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Newcastle, said the institution was "disappointed" but denied the cheating was systemic and said that there were mechanisms in place to catch offending individuals. I can't guarantee we can identify individual cases all the time. But we can identify across the course of a full course somebody who is systematically doing this sort of thing," he said, speaking on ABC Newcastle radio after the story broke. Ms Dou's business ventures complement her expensive tastes, including designer handbags, which she has sold online for more than $3000. Ms Dou is yet to reply to the Herald's journalists. Now we have a good idea of what she thinks of them.