With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, a new type of AI fraud has quietly emerged.
According to a report by Breitbart on Thursday (June 12), cybercriminals are stealing identities and using AI-driven bots to impersonate students, registering for courses at online universities in the United States to fraudulently obtain scholarships and student loans.
The report states that community colleges, due to their lower tuition fees, often disburse scholarships for living expenses, making them a hotspot for this type of AI fraud.
Data obtained by the Associated Press shows that in 2024, California community colleges alone reported 1.2 million suspicious applications, with over 220,000 registrations suspected to be fraudulent. Community colleges suffered losses of at least $11.1 million in unrecoverable scholarships.
According to the technology website TechSpot, these AI-driven “ghost students” can automatically complete applications, registrations, participate in online courses, submit assignments, all without much human intervention.
In some fraud cases, teachers have discovered that there are barely any real students in remote classrooms.
At the same time, legitimate students are unable to register for the courses they need due to AI bots occupying spots.
Moreover, the process for victims of fraud to clear their name is lengthy and complex. For instance, Heather Brady, a resident of San Francisco who had never applied for university courses, was one day questioned by the police about her registration at the University of Arizona.
She later discovered that someone had used her personal information to register and secure government scholarships. Additionally, someone had borrowed over $9,000 in student loans under her name for courses she never took.
Regarding this type of fraud, the U.S. Department of Education acknowledges the severity of the situation, stating that “fraud rates through identity theft have reached levels that threaten federal financial aid programs.”
The U.S. Department of Education has recently implemented temporary measures, requiring first-time applicants for federal aid to verify their identity using government-issued identification. It is expected that more stringent screening measures will be introduced in the future.