NEWNow you can hearken to Fox Information articles!
FIRST ON FOX: The Division of Schooling thwarted greater than $1 billion in scholar support fraud beneath President Donald Trump’s first 12 months in workplace, together with stopping suspected bots and “ghost college students” from acquiring taxpayer-funded loans, Fox Information Digital realized.
Officers say the financial savings come from new “enhanced fraud controls” the division carried out in June to fight fraudsters from working to acquire monetary help loans from faculties.
School officers and cybersecurity consultants in recent times have pointed to a brand new rip-off pattern of “ghost college students,” that are fabricated or stolen identities created solely to enroll, set off monetary support disbursements after which disappear. Ghost college students are believed to be powered by AI bots or run by prison networks utilizing actual People’ private info.
Different scams have included the usage of deceased people’ identities as a way to fraudulently acquire loans.
FAKE YALE STUDENT SCANDAL RAISES ALARMS OVER ACADEMIC FRAUD, FOREIGN INFLUENCE RISKS
To crackdown on fraud, the Division of Schooling heightened its identification verification course of for first-time candidates trying to obtain Federal Scholar Support. The division mentioned in June that the Biden administration “eliminated verification safeguards and diverted assets from fraud prevention towards its unlawful mortgage forgiveness efforts” amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which compounded fraud schemes.
The Division of Schooling reported that it has thwarted greater than $1 billion from alleged scammers leveraging scholar loans. (Alejandra Villa Loarca/Newsday RM by way of Getty Photographs)
“Americans need to current an ID to buy a ticket to journey or to hire a automotive — it’s solely proper that they need to current an ID to entry tens of hundreds of taxpayer {dollars} to fund their schooling,” U.S. Secretary of Schooling Linda McMahon advised Fox Digital on Thursday.
“From day one, the Trump Administration has been dedicated to rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the federal authorities. In consequence, $1 billion in taxpayer funds will now help college students pursuing the American dream, somewhat than falling into the fingers of criminals. Merry Christmas, taxpayers!” she added.
The brand new verification course of requires first-time candidates to “current, both in particular person or on a dwell video convention, an unexpired, legitimate, government-issued photograph identification to an institutionally approved particular person and the establishment should protect a replica of this documentation.”
The verification measure has thwarted greater than $1 billion from flowing to suspected fraudsters, which the Division of Schooling mentioned contains “coordinated worldwide fraud rings and AI bots pretending to be college students.”
The elevated verification course of adopted the Trump administration uncovering practically $90 million that was disbursed to suspected scammers in 2024, together with $30 million in loans to useless folks and greater than $40 million disbursed to firms utilizing bots disguised as pretend college students.
SCHOOLS TURN TO HANDWRITTEN EXAMS AS AI CHEATING SURGES
Current knowledge from the California Group School System, for instance, indicated that 34% of group school functions in 2024, leading to hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in federal and state support being misdirected.
Native media reported within the spring of this 12 months that Democrats and Republicans alike had been working to deal with mortgage fraud within the state and heighten safety measures, together with a Democratic meeting member calling for a state audit to establish fraud patterns.
“Ghost scholar” AI scams have infiltrated the school mortgage software course of, in response to Division of Schooling officers. (Inventory/Getty Photographs)
The Foothill–De Anza Group School District acquired roughly 26,000 functions, in response to media stories in 2024, with 10,000 positioned on maintain for doable fraud earlier than the start of the time period. In Nevada, the School of Southern Nevada wrote off $7.4 million within the fall 2024 semester because of a “ghost scholar” scheme, media stories present.
One other “ghost college students” scheme in Minnesota has left Riverland Group School averaging greater than 100 probably fraudulent functions per 12 months.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO ROLL OUT EARLIEST AND MOST STREAMLINED FAFSA FORM IN HISTORY
Inside the first week of the brand new verification course of in June, officers say they flagged nearly 150,000 suspect identities in present Free Utility for Federal Scholar Support (FAFSA) filings and “instantly alerted” faculties and universities to the suspicious exercise.
President Donald Trump speaks within the Oval Workplace on the White Home Oct. 6, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photographs)
“Schools and universities throughout the nation reported being beneath siege by extremely subtle fraud rings and requested the Trump Administration for assist,” the Division of Schooling mentioned in a press launch on Thursday.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Along with rolling out its heightened safety measures, the division has additionally revealed supplies on-line warning households in opposition to “pretend school web sites to trick college students with AI-generated content material and false guarantees designed to appear actual” and is within the midst of hiring a “new fraud detection staff inside FSA that will probably be liable for combatting fraud and abuse.”
