WASHINGTON — The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has identified approximately $270 million in suspicious financial activity potentially linked to federal student aid fraud and referred its findings to federal investigators, the Treasury Department said Monday.
Financial institutions filed nearly 100 suspicious activity reports following a July alert warning about student aid fraud. FinCEN’s review identified more than 20,000 potentially suspicious transactions dating to February 2026, Treasury said.
The findings represent investigative leads, rather than confirmed fraud losses, and do not capture the full scope of potentially suspicious activity, according to the department.
FinCEN’s July alert warned that criminals move stolen aid through money mules, shell companies and fake accounts to conceal its origin.
‘Ghost Students’
Treasury described “ghost student” schemes in which criminals use stolen identities to enroll fictitious students and collect financial aid. In “straw student” schemes, fraud rings pay people for their personal information, enroll them in school and retain their aid refunds.
Such schemes can deplete grant funding, occupy classroom seats that legitimate students need and leave identity theft victims facing debts they never incurred, Treasury said.
