[Fraud Trends Series] Trend #1: Student Loan Debt
To say that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our lives is an understatement. Consider the toll on physical and mental health, the changes in work life, supply chain issues, and problems with the global economy, just to name a few. Prior to the pandemic,...
Friends and Family
It’s important to maintain good relationships with
friends and family. They are a great support system during both good times and
bad. A man from Danville, Virginia used his friends and family to support his student
loan fraud scheme which stole more than a million...
The One That Got Away
A report
compiled by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General
states that student aid fraud cost the federal government nearly $200 million
between 2009 and 2012. Today’s fraud article states that student
loan fraud is growing because of the increase in the number...
Scared Yet?
The only things an identity thief needs for obtaining a student loan are your name, birthdate, address and Social Security number. These are the keys to establishing a Federal Student Aid ID and to creating a fraudulent loan account without your knowledge. (By the...
Admissions Fraud
College admissions are competitive. (That’s why high school seniors are encouraged to apply to multiple schools with the hopes of getting into at least one of their favorites.) When a Carmel, Indiana woman applied to her favored university and got rejected, she committed student...
School of Hard Knocks
If you want to lose the respect of your peers, steal their personal information and use it to apply for student loans you don't deserve. That's what today's fraudster did to fund her doctorate degree.
A 64-year-old retired high school teacher stole and used the...
They Never Learn
Some fraudsters never learn. They frequently commit the same crime over and over again until one day, they make a mistake. A Georgia woman almost carried out a successful student loan fraud scheme worth $500,000, until she mistakenly signed her own name instead of...
Beauty is Only Skin Deep
The phrase, ''beauty is only skin deep,'' suggests that a person's character is more important than how they actually look. A woman who ran a cosmetology school in Fort Wayne, Indiana used her beauty school to hide an ugly $3 million student loan scam.
The...
Subject to Detention
It's back to school time. Children and people of all ages are headed to learning institutions across the nation to increase their knowledge, some more willingly than others. An article published in The Annandale Patch tells about a man and a woman who were...
Fraudster Flunk Out
Most people like to get things for free, but an article posted on MassLive.com tells about a former Massachusetts university employee who takes the concept of free to a new, lower level. This particular young adult was not entirely happy with just receiving a...