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. 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 by another person.

As a flyer for MyMaster reads, Ms Dou capitalised ingeniously on the anxiety experienced by many overseas students. "Are you racking your brains on your school work? Do you worry about spending $3000 retaking tuition on the failing subject? 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.

"I will find out what's going on," she said. "I try my best to provide you information." 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. Since graduating from Macquarie University, Ms Dou has established herself as the director of two companies: MyMaster and coaching college Yingcredible Tutoring. 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 questions.