The education sector is haunted by a significant fraud problem where fake students impersonate celebrities and employ other identity techniques to steal resources and money from legitimate students. While sorting through student submission applications, the name Brad Pitt appears. Admission office employees believe it must be a joke or an accident, but soon they find another familiar-looking celebrity name. It becomes clear that the fraudulent technique, named "ghost students," is highly intentional and part of a larger trend affecting the education sector.[1]
Celebrity impersonations are just one element of a ghost student, an individual who goes through the application process with no intention of attending the institution. These fake students, which could be scammers or bots, use celebrity names and financial aid. Some cyber actors do get accepted, which ties up resources, which is something many schools already struggle to obtain. They then become eligible for financial aid and deprive legitimate students of money and a seat in class.
As if the education sector doesn't face enough threats, particularly ransomware, now they must deal with increasing fraud. In some cases, schools and institutions will receive real student submissions, but the applicants used stolen credentials or another form of identity theft to pose as those people, exacerbating the problem. It has become an operational nightmare dealing with fake students and not having the resources to take care of the actual students, explains the chief information security officer at DeVry University.
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[1] https://www.darkreading.com/cyber-risk/ghost-students-haunt-the-halls-of-education-institutions
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