Lehigh University Freshman faked father's death to secure full scholarship

Reportedly, an Indian student Aryan Anand who is also a former Lehigh University Freshman was arrested after a Reddit post shared with police confirmed that he faked his father's death to get a full scholarship at the university.

Study Abroad: Northampton County’s district attorney's news release revealed that Aryan Anand, a former Lehigh University student, forged documents to fake his father's death so that he could get a full scholarship at the university. Everything was done as per the scheme to get admission to Bethlehem School.

As per lehighvalleylive report, he forged his father’s death certificate, transcripts and financial statements and created a fake email ID impersonating a school principal. The release revealed that Anand’s father is alive in India.

He posted his own story on social media

Aryan faked the documents and did all the homework to prove that his father was dead but he posted on the social media site Reddit, “I have built my life and career on lies."

Through an anonymous post on Reddit he narrated all the details of his deeds and a Reddit moderator noticed it and informed the Lehigh University about the post. When the university's police department probed the entire case, they found the details to be true.

Lehigh University spokeswoman Amy White said, “Lehigh University appreciates the report to its ethics hotline and the diligent investigation by the Lehigh University Police Department that led to Aryan Anand’s arrest, as well as the Northampton County District Attorney’s Office’s prosecution of Anand for fraud."

Anand was sentenced to one to three months in Northampton County Prison

Aryan started his course at the university as a first-year student in August last year and this year his admission was revoked. He was found guilty of forgery on June 12 and was sentenced to one to three months in Prison by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The charges of tampering and theft against him were later dropped. While negotiating a plea, he agreed to return to India. The university also decided not to seek restitution — which would have amounted to about $85,000.

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