How to Avoid Student’s Fraud Scam
Going to college can be one of the most exciting times of your life, but some people will want to spoil it for you. These people are scammers and they are always looking for opportunities to exploit students for their personal financial gain.
Scammers have come up with many schemes to prey on unsuspecting learners and we will discuss a few of their commonly used scams like bogus scholarships. We won’t just list these scams, but we will help you identify telltale signs that you can use to identify these schemes. We will also share tips on what to do if you get scammed.
Scholarship and financial aid scams
Many students worldwide, whether they are Australian or American, struggle with funding their tertiary education. However, many organizations have decided to help students with their finances.
Some of these organizations don’t offer finances. Instead, they promise to help students find financial aid or scholarships at a price. These organizations usually dishonor their promises.
Fraudulent financial aid service providers will usually promise you guaranteed aid and present time-sensitive offers. If you are looking for scholarships, do not pay for any application fees.
If you have fallen for one of these scams, you should report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Rental housing scams
Many students choose/have to move to another city so they can attend college and most students do not have experience with finding a good housing deal. This has opened an opportunity for scammers who pose as landlords and roommates.
To avoid getting scammed, do not pay money a potential roommate; be careful of potential roommates who claim to live elsewhere. One of the worst money mistakes students make is choosing housing deals that are surprisingly low and paying fees before seeing the place in person.
Rental housing scam victims should report these instances to the police increase the likelihood of the scammer getting caught.
Tuition fee scam
Another popular scam that has college students is the one where a scammer will claim that a student has not paid their fees. The con artist will normally contact a student and claim to be from the admin department and say that the student has an overdue payment.
The scammer will then ask for a credit card payment to get paid as soon as possible and threaten that you will get dropped from your classes. All you have to do to avoid this scam is to confirm with your college, also do not click any links if you receive an email like this.
Internet scams
In college, you will spend a lot of time on the internet doing research, having fun and connecting with your friends and family. Unfortunately, there are many scams online, such as harmful social media surveys; these surveys are fun, but they could end up forcing you to pay them.
Another internet scam is the one that offers free products or trial periods for services, as it is usually used to obtain private information. If you do not want to get scammed online, do not share your private information and watch out for any hidden costs.
Trust only reputed sources when you are dealing online. When ordering online assignments, trust sites that have been in business for years and Edubirdie is one of the best in this regard. They use the best security features to ensure that your thesis and dissertation payments go through the right channels.
Blackmail scams
Having fun in college is also a worldwide thing as you will find college dances, festivals and other parties down in Australia up to Canada. At these events, students usually end up having too much fun and do things that they regret later.
Scammers like attending these events to record unsuspecting students and threaten to leak the footage and damage their reputations. Sometimes these opportunists pose as friends and encourage students to do embarrassing things.
To avoid getting blackmailed by scammers, be careful of what you do in public or around friends.
Conclusion
Keeping these scams in mind when you are applying for a college course or are already a student, you will save yourself a lot of money. Avoiding these scams will not just save you money. It will also give you peace of mind and allow you to focus on your studies.
The scams we have listed are a very small figure when compared to the total number of existing ones that have students as their targets. New scams pop up all the time and old ones are being refined, is follow all our scam avoidance tips though, you will not fall for almost every scam.
Author Bio:
Emma Rundle is an edutech expert who’s currently working as a blogger and contributes blogs and articles to various digital magazines. She also works as a freelance academic writer in the field of information technology and other science subjects. In her free time, she writes poems, attends art therapy classes and cooks Italian food for her family.
