Feds uncover $1.4M 'ghost student' financial aid fraud scheme in Virginia

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice announced an international fraud scheme affecting student loans, including one person charged in Northern Virginia. Our chief legal correspondent, Katie Barlow, is standing by to get a sense of what's happening here. Hey, Katie. Hey, good evening, Jim. So according to DOJ, this is a nationwide effort to combat this alleged fraudulent activity that is all aimed at student loans. So according to the department, what's happening is these individuals, these accused fraudsters, are making up fake student aid accounts through FAFSA. All parents familiar with FAFSA, if they've had a high school senior or the high school seniors themselves, it can be a complicated process, but they make these fake accounts and then they set up a ghost student using a real U.S. citizen ID applying for federal aid. And when that money drops into the bank account, either an aid or a loan, then they divert the money to other bank accounts that are managed by people, also fraudsters, either here in the United States or particularly in this case in Kenya. But every year, alongside those eager American students submitting their student loan applications, praying for a better future, are fraudsters submitting fraudulent student loan applications by the thousands, preying on the American taxpayer and American victims. Operation Ghostbusters is working to stop them. All right, so Katie, what do we know about the case out of Virginia that was announced today? Well, right now, according to DOJ's website, that case is still under seal, perhaps because they're still looking for that individual. But that man is charged with taking $1.4 million in student aid, specifically student aid refund deposits, and then diverting it to accounts managed by individuals in both Kenya and in the United States as well. And they've been able to track those funds, at least 1.3 million to accounts in both locations of the 1.4 million that was diverted to this particular individual in this ghost student scheme.