FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — “Ghost students, I would consider to be those individuals, who are fake students,” says Mikki Johnson, Financial Aid Director for Fresno City College.
Hidden behind computer screens, an army of digital crooks, known as ‘Ghost Students.’
These scammers are using the power of artificial intelligence to steal identities and enroll in schools to access loans. They disappear as soon as they receive money.
“It’s a huge issue, in the pandemic when we went to online learning, we learned that it really did open the door,” says Jason Williams, U.S. Department of Education Assistant Inspector General for Investigation.
Community colleges, ground zero for the massive scheme. One community college in the Bay Area had a 50-person online class fill up in minutes, with 100 on the waitlist. Only six of those turned out to be real students.
“They tend to target community colleges because we are open-access institutions, so we don’t have necessarily the rigorous requirements through the admissions process that some of our four-year universities have,” says Johnson.
Mikki Johnson is the Director of Financial Aid at Fresno City College, she sees the scams firsthand. Her office identifies unusual activity and tracks common trends.
“We are constantly trying to keep up with how they’re evolving because it is. Things change, and we’re trying to stay one step ahead of the bad actors,” says Johnson.
According to the California Community Colleges in 2024, more than 31% of all applications statewide were fraudulent. That equals about 3 million dollars lost in state funding and 10 million in federal funding.
There are multiple victims in this scenario, the state and federal government, the colleges, and the people whose identities are stolen.
Victims have reported going through several months of painstaking documentation – to prove they are not responsible for repaying loans taken out in their names. It can also impact their credit scores.
Maurice Simpkins, a software engineer, says these criminal enterprises span the globe.
“Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Most recently, we have been seeing some Russian data I mean, it’s actually coming in in Russian characters in some instances,” says Simpkins.
The State Center Community College District has been able to reduce losses in state funding. One tactic it uses, prolonging financial aid disbursement.
Johnson says through collaboration, the district has made strides and stopped thieves.
“I definitely believe that our efforts are working that is a direct result of all of our work,” says Johnson.
Now, the Department of Education Inspector General’s office tells ABC News, they have more than 200 active investigations in states from coast to coast, so this isn’t unique to Fresno City or even California.
Many community colleges are now turning to identity verification software to help reduce the rampant fraud.
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