Fake student loan forgiveness / cancellation phishing — non-official sender impersonates the Department of Education, Federal Student Aid, or a loan servicer claiming the recipient's student loans have been approved for forgiveness, discharge, or cancellation under a government program, then harvests FSA login credentials, Social Security numbers, or charges enrollment fees to "process" the application

Phishing emails impersonating the Department of Education, Federal Student Aid (FSA), or student loan servicers (MOHELA, Navient, Sallie Mae) claiming the recipient's student loans have been approved for forgiveness, cancellation, or discharge under a government program — requiring FSA login credentials, Social Security numbers, or enrollment fees to "process" the application. These campaigns exploded during the Biden administration's 2022–2024 student loan forgiveness policy debates as scammers exploited massive media coverage to create plausible lures for 43+ million federal student loan borrowers. Key facts: (1) FTC 2023: student loan relief scams cost borrowers $95 million, with an average loss of $2,000 per victim; (2) The real student loan forgiveness process runs exclusively through studentaid.gov with an existing FSA login — the DoE never emails requesting FSA credentials, SSNs, or fees to process forgiveness applications; (3) Providing FSA ID credentials enables account takeover — the attacker can redirect any future loan disbursements and change contact information; (4) "Enrollment fees" or "processing fees" for federal loan forgiveness are illegal under the Higher Education Act — any organization charging such fees is operating fraudulently. Warning signs: unsolicited "forgiveness approved" email, any request for FSA credentials or Social Security number by email, any fee required to process government loan forgiveness, sender domain not ending in .gov.