WESTWOOD—A fraud scheme targeting University of California students cost the Student Health Insurance Plan (UC SHIP) nearly $12 million.

The company that created and operated the scheme, California Clinical Trials LLC (CCT), allegedly altered fraudulent medical prescriptions under the names of more than 500 students across six UC campuses.

The victims were targeted by Facebook ads offering money in exchange for student participation in a study. They were asked to disclose their UC SHIP information to participate, including I.D. number, and agree to sample medications, the Daily Bruin reported.

The University of California filed a complaint against CCT in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, April 20. A court file stated that more than 600 prescriptions were written by a podiatrist, costing more than $1.7 million in one day.

“This needs to be immediately stopped,” said John Stobo, Vice President of UC Health. “We have identified nine different health care providers who prescribed medications to these students, likely without any indication of physical exams or even a physician-patient relationship.”

According to UC Officials, most of the drugs prescribed to students were inexpensive and off-patent, and often used in health care fraud schemes. The drugs are invoiced at thousands of dollars to insurers, patients and health care programs provided by the government.

According to UC spokesperson Stephanie Beechem, the University of California is seeking a temporary restraining order against the defendants. It is expected to be enacted next week. Officials are alerting the students whose private information was compromised.