World · 5 d ago
Lmwangi · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
US flags nearly US$130 million in ghost student aid fraud tied to Kenya
Aid tied to suspect accounts
130 US$ million
Investigators flagged 830,840 potentially fraudulent student aid ID numbers tied to nearly US$130 million. The figure is aid linked to suspect accounts, not confirmed losses.
What it means
Ghost student
Prosecutors say fraudsters use stolen identities to enrol fake students in US colleges, then collect their federal aid.
A Nebraska grand jury indicted Kenyan national Francis Mogambi on Oct 19 on five counts of theft of government money and five of aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors allege he kept 30 per cent and sent the rest to associates in Kenya; he has not commented.
The US investigation, dubbed Operation Ghostbusters, has led to five indictments involving Kenyan nationals, with 40 more investigations open. With Kenyan help, US authorities seized more than US$750,000 from a cryptocurrency account.
