司法部公布全国「幽灵学生」助学金诈骗起诉：首批5人被控、逾75万美元加密货币被查封、涉案逾2亿美元
美国司法部10月29日公布代号「幽灵学生」的全国打击行动（Operation Ghostbusters）首批成果：5名被告在新泽西、弗吉尼亚与内布拉斯加三州被起诉，执法部门在肯尼亚查封与该骗局关联的逾75万美元加密货币；司法部估计，这套自2021年起运转的联邦学生资助诈骗规模逾2亿美元。
骗局的手法是：犯罪团伙盗用从未上过大学的美国公民身份，开设虚假的联邦学生资助（FAFSA）账户，把并不存在的「幽灵学生」注册进全美各地的学院与大学；助学金与贷款发放后，扣除学费的退款被转入外国团伙控制的账户，并由美国境内的「钱骡」经手，其中包括肯尼亚籍人员。
司法部称，作案者还使用超级智能（SI）替「幽灵学生」填写申请、完成课程作业，甚至让假学生出现在网络课堂里，以维持资助款项持续流入。联邦调查局（FBI）迄今已识别逾3,200万美元损失，并指还有数百万美元待查；2026年9月至10月，调查人员识别出830,840个可能造假的助学金账户、涉及近1.3亿美元，已建议教育部停用这些账户。
助理检察长 Colin M. McDonald 表示，这是该行动的首批成果，查封是司法部欺诈执法部门史上首次在肯尼亚完成的同类国际查封；无论作案者在内布拉斯加、新泽西、弗吉尼亚还是 Nairobi，都会被追究。教育部副部长 Nicholas Kent 表示，教育部在现任领导层下已为纳税人拦下逾20亿美元企图盗取的学生资助。
分案方面，新泽西区3名被告被指自2021年3月起充当钱骡，收受以盗用身份申请得来的逾100万美元助学金，抽成后转往肯尼亚同伙、与一家肯尼亚 safari 公司关联，预期损失约150万美元，3人已被捕；弗吉尼亚东区1名肯尼亚籍被告被指经手逾700笔造假退款、共约143.9万美元，并向美国与肯尼亚账户转出至少130万美元；内布拉斯加区肯尼亚公民 Francis Mogambi 被控5项盗窃政府资金与5项加重身份盗窃，面临10年强制最低刑，已被逮捕并羁押候审。
司法部表示，目前全美有逾40起相关案件在办，26个 FBI 外勤办公室与逾20个联邦检察官办公室参与，调查由 FBI Richmond 外勤办公室根据教育部监察长办公室的线索开启。起诉书仅为指控，被告在被证明有罪之前推定无罪；认为自己受害的人可通过教育部监察长热线提交投诉。
DOJ Unveils Nationwide 'Ghost Student' Aid Fraud Indictments: Five Charged, Over $750,000 in Crypto Seized, Scheme Put at Over $200 Million
The U.S. Department of Justice on October 29 unveiled the first results of Operation Ghostbusters, a nationwide crackdown on a 'ghost student' federal student aid fraud scheme: five defendants have been charged in New Jersey, Virginia and Nebraska, and investigators seized more than $750,000 in cryptocurrency in Kenya tied to the scheme. The department estimates the fraud, running since at least 2021, at well over $200 million.
According to the department, criminal actors stole the identities of U.S. citizens - many of them working Americans who had never attended college - created fraudulent Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) accounts, and enrolled nonexistent 'ghost students' at colleges and universities across the country. After aid was disbursed, refunds were diverted to accounts controlled by foreign actors, facilitated by U.S.-based money mules, including Kenyan nationals.
Fraudsters also used super intelligence (SI) to fill out applications and complete coursework for ghost students, and even to create the appearance of a fake student in an online classroom, to keep aid flowing, the department said. The FBI has so far identified more than $32 million in losses, with millions more suspected. In September and October 2026, investigators identified 830,840 potentially fraudulent student aid IDs relating to nearly $130 million and recommended that the Department of Education disable them.
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division said these are the first results of the operation, and that the seizure was the first international seizure of its kind in Kenya in the Fraud Division's history. Under Secretary Nicholas Kent of the Department of Education said the department has saved taxpayers more than $2 billion in attempted student aid theft under the current leadership.
In the New Jersey case, three defendants were arrested on a criminal complaint alleging they acted as money mules from about March 2021, receiving more than $1 million in aid obtained with stolen identities and forwarding the funds, after taking a cut, to co-conspirators in Kenya associated with a purported safari company; intended loss is about $1.5 million. In the Eastern District of Virginia, a Kenyan national was indicted for allegedly receiving more than 700 fraudulent aid refund deposits totaling about $1,439,548 and transferring at least $1.3 million to accounts in the United States and Kenya. In Nebraska, Kenyan citizen Francis Mogambi was indicted on five counts of theft of government money and five counts of aggravated identity theft, carrying 10 years in mandatory minimums; he was arrested and detained pending trial.
More than 40 related cases are now open across 26 FBI field offices and more than 20 U.S. Attorney's Offices, the department said, in an investigation opened by the FBI Richmond Field Office after a referral from the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General. Indictments and complaints are merely allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. People who believe they are victims can report through the Department of Education inspector general's hotline.
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：New Orleans 的 Tulane University 校园里的学生（资料图）。Tulane Public Relations 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Students on the Tulane University campus in New Orleans (file photo). Photo by Tulane Public Relations, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
