{"id":2227793,"date":"2024-04-23T03:32:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T07:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-student-loan-forgiveness-promises-coincide-with-rise-in-scams\/"},"modified":"2024-04-23T03:34:11","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T07:34:11","slug":"biden-student-loan-forgiveness-promises-coincide-with-rise-in-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-student-loan-forgiveness-promises-coincide-with-rise-in-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden&#8217;s student loan forgiveness pledges align with surge in scams"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-student-loan-forgiveness-promises-coincide-with-rise-in-scams%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2227793&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Federal Trade Commission issues a caution about scammers exploiting promises of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-push-for-student-debt-forgiveness-would-cost-taxpayers-millions\/\" title=\"Democrats push for student debt forgiveness, would cost taxpayers millions\">student loan forgiveness<\/a>, with critics attributing\u200d part of the issue to President Joe Biden&#8217;s initiatives. Biden&#8217;s consistent pledges on student loan cancellation have led\u200c to \u2064a \u200dsurge\u200d in fraudulent activities. The scammers prey on public anticipation fueled by Biden&#8217;s announcements, prompting heightened vigilance \u2064among borrowers and authorities.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ftc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Federal Trade Commission\">Federal Trade Commission<\/a> is warning about scammers targeting people with promises to cancel their student loans,\u00a0and critics say President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Joe Biden\">Joe Biden<\/a> fueled the fire himself.<\/p>\n<p>Biden has been <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JoeBiden\/status\/1241869418981920769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1241869418981920769%7Ctwgr%5Ef1a953faa9d36f5cbf1cf18fe7ff3095bd0bc402%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&#038;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2F2021%2F12%2F07%2F1062070001%2Fstudent-loan-forgiveness-debt-president-biden-campaign-promise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"pledging\">pledging<\/a> to cancel student loans since the 2020 presidential campaign and has rolled out a wide range of programs and proposals toward that end. While his actions so far have affected 4.3 million of the 44 million people with student debt, his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/2957255\/biden-student-loan-plan-ignoring-gop-legal-challenges\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"headline-grabbing\">headline-grabbing<\/a> announcements have created an expectation that scammers are eager to exploit. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHearing a lot about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-administration-set-to-make-sweeping-changes-to-student-loan-system\/\" title=\"Biden Administration Set to Make Sweeping Changes to Student Loan System\">federal student loan forgiveness<\/a> in the news? You\u2019re not alone \u2014 scammers are, too,\u201d reads an April 16 <a href=\"https:\/\/consumer.ftc.gov\/consumer-alerts\/2024\/04\/scammers-follow-news-about-student-loan-forgiveness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"release\">release<\/a> from the FTC. \u201cYou might get a call from someone saying they\u2019re affiliated with Federal Student Aid (FSA) or the Department of Education. They\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) says Biden shares some of the blame.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe president\u2019s continued hawking of his \u2018free college\u2019 agenda is a contributing factor to the rise in bad actors looking to defraud Americans \u2014 there\u2019s no question about it,\u201d Foxx said. \u201cNot only does he bear responsibility for this uptick, but he also bears responsibility for pinning taxpayers with the tab every time he announces a new iteration of his scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> has reached out to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/white-house\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"White House\">White House<\/a> for comment. <\/p>\n<p>Biden proposed ahead of the 2020 presidential election to cancel at least $10,000 per person in student debt. His first attempt at that would cancel up to $20,000 per borrower at a total cost of at least $400 billion. That was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/1533584\/supreme-court-strikes-down-bidens-costly-student-loan-relief-plan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"struck down\">struck down<\/a> by the Supreme Court last summer. <\/p>\n<p>The president has followed up with a stream of cancellation rounds that now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/2963655\/white-house-announces-new-student-loans-moves-and-defends-high-cost-to-taxpayers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"tops\">tops<\/a> $150 billion for just over 4 million borrowers. Any amounts that are not repaid are added to the public debt.<\/p>\n<p>Biden and the Department of Education have also created the Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, Plan to reduce the amount future borrowers repay drastically. The Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates that the plan will <a href=\"https:\/\/budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu\/issues\/2023\/7\/17\/biden-income-driven-repayment-budget-update\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"cost $475 billion\">cost $475 billion<\/a> over 10 years, and 18 states have argued it is illegal in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/2943170\/kansas-coalition-states-sues-biden-student-loan-program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"two\">two<\/a> separate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2959235\/missouri-attorney-general-sues-block-biden-latest-student-loan-scheme\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"lawsuits\">lawsuits<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThousands of people per month are eligible, about 25,000 a month,\u201d Biden said Feb. 21. \u201cThey\u2019ll be getting a letter from me letting them know they\u2019re qualified. And when they get that letter, your debt is going to be forgiven.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Plenty of letters have rolled in since that date, not all of them from the president. <\/p>\n<p>One common scheme is from a fake entity calling itself the \u201cStudent-Loan Debt Department,\u201d which sends out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.khou.com\/article\/news\/verify\/student-loan\/student-loan-debt-department-email-scam-relief-forgiveness-2024-guidelines\/536-c226c7a6-7bc7-4cb2-9fe2-9ddda20f8bec\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"comes\">emails<\/a> complete with a case number and a phone number to dial. In reality, it is a scam. <\/p>\n<p>The FTC warning includes tips on how to spot scams, instructing debtors never to pay upfront fees, share login information, or buy into promises of special access to forgiveness programs. In March, the agency <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2024\/03\/ftc-sends-more-41-million-refunds-people-who-lost-money-student-loan-debt-relief-scheme\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"reimbursed\">reimbursed<\/a> $4.1 million to 27,584 people who lost money to scammers. <\/p>\n<p>Yet the president\u2019s own promises and overlapping patchwork of programs have led to a situation that is ripe for fraud, argues CATO Institute research fellow Andrew Gillen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I get an offer out of the blue for someone to pay off my mortgage, I know it\u2019s a scam,\u201d Gillen said. \u201cBut if the president spent the last three years hyping mortgage forgiveness plans, I\u2019d be much more receptive and gullible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/studentaid.gov\/resources\/scams\" title=\"page\">page<\/a> on studentaid.gov warning against scams says that some make offers for \u201cBiden loan forgiveness\u201d and that loanees have received phone calls, emails, letters, and text messages offering them relief from their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-has-signed-40-executive-orders-and-actions-since-taking-office\/\" title=\"Biden has signed 40 executive orders and actions since taking office\">federal student loans<\/a>. One false claim instructs borrowers to \u201cact immediately to qualify for student loan forgiveness before the program is discontinued.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Gillen, who follows education policy as a career, added that he has had trouble keeping track of all the details of Biden\u2019s different cancellation plans and their legal status and says the administration\u2019s rush to get debt forgiven before lawsuits emerge creates an artificial sense of urgency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve been announcing big student loan forgiveness plans for years now, but many borrowers haven\u2019t seen any forgiveness,\u201d he said. \u201cThis makes borrowers more susceptible to scammers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Trade Commission cautions against scammers preying on individuals with false promises of student loan forgiveness. Critics point out that President Joe Biden&#8217;s ongoing commitment to student loan cancellation initiatives has inadvertently contributed to the proliferation of such scams. Biden has introduced various programs and proposals in line with his campaign promises from 2020<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2635,"featured_media":2227794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24099688615684-2-1024x590.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2227793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24099688615684-2-1024x590.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2635"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2227793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2227794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2227793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2227793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2227793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}