Usually students take out student loans, receive scholarships, or work to pay their way through college. But one Florida college student, who attended and graduated from Florida Atlantic University, decided to pay for college by stealing and using someone’s social security number.
For five years, this student used another person’s social security number to get by financially during her college years. The estimated amount that was saved in tuition fees for using an Okaloosa County woman’s social security number was $51,443.00. The student was born in Brazil so she faced paying four times more than a student who resided in the state of Florida.
The FAU student was eventually caught when she asked to change her social security number on her transcripts so she could apply to medical school. The registrar requested the student’s original tax information but the student turned in copied tax records that looked as though they had been altered.
Having to change her social security number and not being able to provide the original tax documentation raised red flags with the registrar. The university has not seen the student since. The FAU police are also unable to find her.
Stealing a social security number is identity theft and a crime. Not only did this FAU college student graduated from college but now she has charges filed against her for identity theft, forgery, scheming to defraud, and misrepresentation of academic standing.
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