College Students Beware: Phone Scammers Might Be After Your Money
Con artists are attempting to take advantage of college students through phone scams – as if college wasn’t already stressful enough.
Scammers are targetting students via phone and posing as university officials in an attempt to steal their money and personal information.
Ferris State University students began receiving calls recently from phony school officials who threatened them to pay a fee or else they’d be dropped from classes.
As a response, in addition to their standard homework, students are being encouraged to study up on scams. Ferris State pointed out that the university does not accept payment by phone, as is the case for most schools.
This scare tactic is common among scammers but can seem real at the moment. It’s terrifying for students to be told their enrollment could be at risk unless they pay. It’s also not the only trick in a scammer’s playbook.
Other common scams include:
- Cheap textbooks for sale
- Back-to-school shopping coupons
- Scholarship offers
- Ways to cut down debt (Here’s our legit list if you have a debt to pay off)
The Federal Trade Commission has a helpful list of tips to spot and handle phone scams. Most importantly: Always be careful taking calls and texts from numbers you don’t know, and never give out personal information over the phone.
If you think you’ve been the victim of a phone scam, report it to the Federal Trade Commission’s Complaint Assistant or the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
