The Department of Education claims it has blocked nearly $200 million from falling into the hands of fraudsters since launching a strict new identity-verification mandate on April 27. The nationwide fraud prevention effort requires high-risk applicants to present government-issued identification when applying for federal student aid.

Fraud Prevention Efforts

The department integrated the real-time, risk-based identity screening directly into the online FAFSA application system this spring. Department officials estimate the tool will save taxpayers over $1 billion during the current FAFSA cycle.

The strict security posture is a necessary correction to the COVID-19 pandemic era, when the Biden-Harris administration rolled back key verification safeguards. The department claims those previous policies diverted resources away from fraud prevention and required less than 1% of students to verify their identity following their FAFSA submission.

The new fraud detection tool is at the FAFSA form level, stopping fraud at the start of the process before the money goes out the door. The department is also targeting outward-facing digital scams, recently publishing updated online resources warning families about predatory “fake college websites” that leverage AI-generated content to lure unsuspecting students into financial schemes.

Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.