Higher-education institutions are confronting AI-enabled fraud rings that generate synthetic or stolen identities to overwhelm application and enrollment systems. Fraudsters flood portals with thousands of submissions during low-staff periods, attempt class registrations, and apply for financial aid, displacing legitimate students. Some scammers submit homework using AI to avoid removal; even obtaining a .edu email address yields discounts and job-application fraud opportunities. Colleges nationwide are adopting AI defense firms, stricter barriers, and manual application reviews. The Department of Education launched a national identity-theft program and mandated new identity verification steps after finding $90 million paid to ineligible students.
Synthetic or "ghost" students refers to masses of falsified or stolen identities scammers use to flood college application and enrollment portals with thousands of submissions in minutes-usually during holidays, weekends, or other times admissions staff will be bare bones. If they're successful, the fraud rings will attempt to register the fake students for classes and apply for financial aid, often squeezing out real students who can't get seats in the classes they need.
Sometimes, all they'll get away with is a college email address. But even that has value, security experts said, giving the scammers a veneer of legitimacy as a college student. A simple email address that ends in .edu allows for discounts on laptops, software, music streaming services and, critically, allows the scammers to use those student identities to fraudulently apply for jobs.
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