[Oacrao-l] Fraudulent applications increasing

[Mehl, Ross B.]

Good morning!  OU College of Professional and Continuing Studies (PACS) Admissions saw a huge number of fraudulent applications around August/September of last year.  This aligns with some other known issues (where most of these were for online program applications).  When this was identified, we put into place a tracking system where the applicant has to attach front and back side scans of a valid ID, and a system IP address check.  The process here at OU PACS is verified by the system, and then secondly by the Admission Specialist assigned to review the application.

Hope this helps!

Best Regards and pleased to serve you,

Ross B. Mehl
Admissions Specialist
Enrollment and Records Specialist
Admissions, Records and Enrollment (A.R.E.)
Communications Coordinator/Webmaster: OACRAO Executive Committee
Member: Staff Senate, Staff Week Committee, Staff Senate Communication Committee and Goddard Health Advisory Board

[cid:image002.png at 01DCA706.18134270]

College of Professional and Continuing Studies and Outreach
University of Oklahoma
1610 Asp Avenue, Room 611
Norman, OK 73072-6405

405.325.1233

PACS.OU.EDU<http://pacs.ou.edu/> | PACS.OU.EDU/BLOG<http://pacs.ou.edu/blog> | OUTREACH.OU.EDU<http://outreach.ou.edu/>

Facebook<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.facebook.com/ouprofessionalandcontinuingstudies/__;!!GNU8KkXDZlD12Q!q4hirshogIew7Pm1eV38vtNLplALOEx3DhKjdXHwKJ2Ey7SC8E9MORxmvVTs$> | Twitter<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/twitter.com/ou_pacs?lang=en__;!!GNU8KkXDZlD12Q!q4hirshogIew7Pm1eV38vtNLplALOEx3DhKjdXHwKJ2Ey7SC8E9MOXU_t4Wr$> |  LinkedIn<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.linkedin.com/school/15097879/__;!!GNU8KkXDZlD12Q!q4hirshogIew7Pm1eV38vtNLplALOEx3DhKjdXHwKJ2Ey7SC8E9MOXDvETa_$>

Confidentiality Notice: This email, including any attachments, contains information from The University of Oklahoma, which may be confidential or privileged. The information is intended to be for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately by "reply to sender only" message and destroy all electronic and hard copies of the communication, including attachments.

From: Oacrao-l <oacrao-l-bounces at lists.onenet.net> On Behalf Of Johnson, Adam
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2026 9:52 AM
To: oacrao-l at lists.onenet.net
Subject: [Oacrao-l] Fraudulent applications increasing

Good morning! SWOSU has seen a growing number of fraudulent applications come through in the past several months. While others were easier to spot/track, they are becoming increasingly more difficult to identify. In a recent example, the fraudulent
ZjQcmQRYFpfptBannerStart
External Email
ZjQcmQRYFpfptBannerEnd
Good morning!

SWOSU has seen a growing number of fraudulent applications come through in the past several months. While others were easier to spot/track, they are becoming increasingly more difficult to identify. In a recent example, the fraudulent applicant used someone else's identity to gain admission (and Financial Aid), and someone is actually submitting assignments in their enrolled courses (asynchronous fully online).

Here's my question for you all - what are you doing to help prevent these kinds of fraudulent applications coming through? Are you using some kind of in-house process to verify every student's identity or partnering with an outside vendor? If in-house, is the process in your Admissions area or Financial Aid office (or both/other)?

Thank you for your insight!

[created with MySignature.io]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/mysignature.io/?utm_source=logo__;!!GNU8KkXDZlD12Q!4wi6Z-qGs6VtDL1HLqanJF2lvego-cOPfwq4izbJYtEw4IA1H-scS7hj7dr2WJUtKen29FXvUPMy5Kw0mKtP$>
Dr. Adam Johnson
Vice-President for Student Services
Office of Student Services
p:  580-774-3<tel:580-774-3063>177
f:   580-774-7035
w:  swosu.edu<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.swosu.edu/__;!!GNU8KkXDZlD12Q!4wi6Z-qGs6VtDL1HLqanJF2lvego-cOPfwq4izbJYtEw4IA1H-scS7hj7dr2WJUtKen29FXvUPMy5PUHRzr5$>
e:   adam.johnson at swosu.edu<mailto:adam.johnson at swosu.edu>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.onenet.net/pipermail/oacrao-l/attachments/20260226/97bcd89e/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 16987 bytes
Desc: image002.png
URL: <http://lists.onenet.net/pipermail/oacrao-l/attachments/20260226/97bcd89e/attachment-0002.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.png
Type: image/png
Size: 41807 bytes
Desc: image003.png
URL: <http://lists.onenet.net/pipermail/oacrao-l/attachments/20260226/97bcd89e/attachment-0003.png>