Indian student uses his father’s fake death certificate to secure a full scholarship at a US university – but makes a big mistake

An Indian student at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, built his career on lies until a Reddit post exposed his fraud. Aryan Anand, 19, admitted his entire application was fake and pleaded guilty in Northampton County in early June.

Anand was arrested on April 30 for forgery and theft of services. Lehigh had previously awarded Anand a full scholarship from his home country of India. Anand enrolled, but a Reddit moderator flagged one of his posts with the title “I built my life and career on lies.”

According to Anand, the reason for the lies was to “get admission and financial support to study at a university in the United States.”

According to a press release from Northampton County District Attorney Stephen G. Baratta, Anand was charged with multiple counts: second-degree forgery and tampering with documents, and third-degree theft by deception and theft of services. He was released on $25,000 bail by Judge Jordan A. Knisley on June 12.

Anand then pleaded guilty to forgery, a second-degree felony in Pennsylvania. He could have faced 10 to 20 years in prison, but the university administration intervened, leading instead to his expulsion from the university and deportation to India.

The Reddit post detailed how Anand forged transcripts, financial records and even a death certificate for his father, who is still alive. Michael Weinert, Northampton County’s assistant district attorney, said the moderator may not have known who to inform if the author hadn’t made a crucial mistake.

Crucial mistake by Aryan Anand

“The defendant was only targeting one other university, Lehigh University. So the moderator contacted Lehigh to warn them,” ABC7 quoted Weinert as saying.

“It was difficult to really verify these things. I think that was great work by Lehigh and their police. They were able to really dig deep and find out that this was all really wrong,” Weinert added.

Lehigh University “thanks the report to its Ethics Hotline and the diligent investigation by Lehigh University Police that led to the arrest of Aryan Anand,” the university said in a statement.