Inside the 'ghost student' scam that uses identity theft to steal college loans and financial aid

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Whenever the government is in charge of a financial concern fraud tends to increase. Government seems only interested in giving out money without providing proper evaluation of the recipient. Just look at Minnesota. Student loans need to return to being the purview of the banks who have to worry more about risk.

They are known as "ghost students," and for thousands of colleges across the country, these sophisticated thieves have a become a scourge. The scammers will use stolen or fake identities to enroll in classes online and sign up for Pell grants and loans, then disappear once they get the money -- robbing the federal government of hundreds of millions of dollars and leaving an untold number of victims like Mayor and his son in their wake.

Inside the 'ghost student' scam that uses identity theft to steal college loans and financial aid

Authorities are investigating a growing scam in which so-called "ghost students" use stolen IDs to enroll in college classes to steal student loans and financial aid.

abcnews.go.com

 

[Dekster]

Whenever the government is in charge of a financial concern fraud tends to increase. Government seems only interested in giving out money without providing proper evaluation of the recipient. Just look at Minnesota. Student loans need to return to being the purview of the banks who have to worry more about risk.

They are known as "ghost students," and for thousands of colleges across the country, these sophisticated thieves have a become a scourge. The scammers will use stolen or fake identities to enroll in classes online and sign up for Pell grants and loans, then disappear once they get the money -- robbing the federal government of hundreds of millions of dollars and leaving an untold number of victims like Mayor and his son in their wake.

Inside the 'ghost student' scam that uses identity theft to steal college loans and financial aid

Authorities are investigating a growing scam in which so-called "ghost students" use stolen IDs to enroll in college classes to steal student loans and financial aid.

abcnews.go.com

When I was in college, the checks went to the school that kept their tuition and fees before issuing you the remaining balance. No idea if that is the case now as our two in college don't have loans to deal with.

Someone tried this with my info filing a fake Earned Income Tax refund in my name several years ago. The IRS flagged it off the bat because I had already been paying estimated returns that year for far in excess of what would have been EITC level income. Problem was the IRS locked up my account without telling me it had been done so they wouldn't process my returns after that until I had to jump through a ton of hoops to prove I am who I am even though they already knew I was who I was.