A Northern Virginia man has been charged in an international scheme that used stolen American identities to enroll “ghost students” and siphon more than $1.4 million in federal student aid, FOX 5 DC reported.
A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia returned an indictment charging a Kenyan national with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and student aid fraud. The defendant has not been named because the indictment was returned under seal.
Prosecutors say the defendant acted as a domestic “money mule,” using multiple accounts to receive more than 700 fraudulent student aid refund deposits totaling $1,439,548, then wiring at least $1.3 million to accounts in the United States and Kenya.
Conspirators allegedly used stolen personal information to create fraudulent FAFSA accounts and enroll fake students who never attended classes, using automated tools to complete coursework.
The case is part of “Operation Ghostbusters,” an FBI Richmond Field Office initiative that has identified an estimated $200 million in suspected fraud since 2021 and led to charges against five defendants in Virginia, New Jersey and Nebraska.
