"can ask for their money back (did the client do this?)"

What is happening is the loan service provider your client worked with, is contacting them with "forgiveness" paperwork. It looks real. It isn't forgiveness paperwork, though.

"U.S. Supreme Court justices have scheduled high-profile arguments over President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan for Feb. 28."

And it never was $40,000 for one borrorwer:

"Biden's plan would cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt for Pell Grant recipients, and $10,000 for other borrowers, for people earning up to $125,000 a year or part of a household where total earnings are no more than $250,000."