There are a wide variety of scholarship scams, and it may not always be easy identifying them. One thing you should always remember is that you should never be asked for money or any financial information in order to apply for a scholarship or to receive one. All legitimate scholarships will be free to apply for, and the information about these scholarships will be readily available online. Students should never give out personal details or banking information when applying for a scholarship. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
Warning Signs To Be Aware Of:
Promises for a Low-interest Student Loan for a Fee.
- Legitimate student loans are offered through the federal government, bank lenders and some other private institutions, and none of them require that you pay anything other than the interest charges that you will accumulate over the life of the loan.
Guaranteed or Your Money Back!
- No company can guarantee that you will receive a scholarship. The only people who can guarantee that you will receive a scholarship are members of a scholarship committee — when they are notifying you that you have won. Shady companies may promise that they can get you a scholarship, but their "guarantee" may come with so many caveats that it's impossible to ever meet them all to collect on your refund if you don't get a scholarship. If anyone promises to get you a scholarship, that's a red flag that you shouldn't work with them.
You've Been Selected!
- These are just the words you want to hear — but you should never hear them until you've actually applied for a scholarship. When you haven't applied for a scholarship but you receive an e-mail or letter telling you that you will get one, that's a big warning sign that you're dealing with a scam. You can only win legitimate scholarships when you actually apply for them.
It Will Only Cost...
- Searching for or applying for a scholarship should never cost money. Ever. Some services may charge money to help you conduct your search, but these services only have access to information that is freely available. We do not recommend paying for such services, and instead using free scholarship search websites such as https://www.cfnc.org/pay-for-college/scholarship-search/, https://www.fastweb.com/college-scholarships, https://www.bestcolleges.com/financial-aid/, and our own outside scholarship list found at https://scholarships.uncc.edu/scholarship-listings/outside-scholarships.
- Any attempt to get your financial information or payment for any reason whatsoever. This information will never be requested by legitimate scholarship opportunities.
We Have Exclusive Access.
- No one has exclusive access to scholarship information. All information about scholarships can be freely found online.
We'll Do All the Work, You Just Pay a Processing Fee…
- No company can do all the work for you. All they can do is provide you a list of potential scholarships to which you can apply. You have to fill out and submit all of your own applications.
"Act Now!"
- Other than submitting your application by the deadline, there is no reason you should ever have to "act now" to get a scholarship. If you are selected for a scholarship, it will be yours. Companies who want you to "act now" are typically trying to get your financial information.
Don’t Pay for the FAFSA Form
- Several websites offer FAFSA help for a fee. These sites are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Department of Education. You can get the same resources for free at fafsa.gov, the official FAFSA site. You can also get free FAFSA assistance through the financial aid office at your college or the college(s) you’re thinking about attending; or the Federal Student Aid Information Center (studentaid@ed.gov or 1-800-4-FED-AID). If you are asked for your credit card information while filling out the FAFSA form online, you are not at the official government site. Remember, the official FAFSA site address – fafsa.gov - has .gov in it!
Required Tuition Payment Scam
- The most common scam targeting college students involves claims about being behind on their tuition. The would-be thief contacts your child claiming to be from the admissions department at their college or university, and asserts your student is late in meeting their financial obligations. The fraudster says that, unless a credit card payment is made immediately, your student will be dropped from their classes or failed.
If you or your child receives an email or phone call making these claims, hang up right away or don’t click any links in the email. Then, contact the college directly using the phone number listed on the school’s website or in any orientation materials to determine if any payments are owed. That way, you can find out if it is a scam by going straight to the alleged source.
How to Spot and Avoid Scams
Scammers can be very crafty and scholarship scams may be difficult to spot, especially when you’re ever so hopeful that someone really does want to help you pay for your education. Here are some tips for spotting and avoiding these types of schemes.
Here’s how to avoid Scholarship scams:
- Question if it’s too good to be true
- Be wary of a sense of urgency
- The promise of exclusive information should be a red flag
- Question money-back guarantees
- Ignore claims of unclaimed funds
- Watch out for claims of affiliation with a reputable organization
- Learn to spot phishing emails and websites
- Don’t hand over personal or banking information
Let’s delve into those in more detail:
1. Question if it’s too good to be true
Use common sense and question how likely it is that the information being presented is legitimate. Let’s face it: if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
2. Be wary of a sense of urgency
While some scholarships do have deadlines, you likely wouldn’t be contacted a few hours or days beforehand. In fact, it’s unlikely that someone providing a real scholarship would ever contact you asking you to apply. Crooks use the tactic of creating a sense of urgency to throw you off your guard and comply with whatever they’re asking. For example, below is a June 2019 scam report from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Scam Tracker. This scholarship scam phishing email included a timeframe within which the recipient should respond (24 hours). Otherwise, the sender threatened, someone else would be selected for the scholarship.
3. The promise of exclusive information should be a red flag
If an organization is promising exclusive access to a scholarship, question whether this would make sense. Information about the vast majority of scholarships is made publicly available so that everyone who is eligible will have an equal opportunity to apply.
4. Question money-back guarantees
Some fraudsters will use a money-back guarantee offer to persuade you to pay them a fee. But let’s face it, the only way they’d be able to guarantee you a scholarship is if the process is rigged. As the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) highlights: "Legitimate companies never guarantee or promise scholarships or grants." Another claim that may be used to attract your attention is the promise that everyone is eligible. Of course, for a real scholarship, there is a set of criteria that applicants have to meet to be considered for the prize.
5. Ignore claims of unclaimed funds
There has long been a myth circulating that millions of dollars in scholarship funds go unclaimed every year. In reality, this is a ploy to help persuade more students to hand over their information or money to apply for bogus scholarships.
6. Watch out for claims of affiliation with a reputable organization
Plenty of scammers will claim to have ties with an organization that you recognize. Some will go a step further and pose as that organization, for example by using its logo and possibly even an email address and web domain that looks like it’s from the company. Investigate the organization thoroughly before handing over any information.
7. Learn to spot phishing emails and websites
Some phishing schemes are easy to spot while others are sophisticated and very deceiving. Key things to look out for are poor spelling and grammar, an email domain that doesn’t quite match the organization’s name, and links that appear to go to different domains (hovering over a link will show you where it’s going to send you). If you do end up clicking through to a website, tell-tale signs of a phishing site include lack of contact and “about us” information and outdated copyright information.
8. Don’t hand over personal or banking information
When you apply for a scholarship, you’re going to have to hand over some information. But if an organization is asking for things like your social security number or banking information right off the bat, then it is likely a scam. Even for seemingly innocuous information like your name, address, and phone number, you should fully vet the organization before sending.
Tips and Tools to Find Legitimate Scholarship Opportunities
The good thing is that finding legitimate scholarship opportunities is quite easy. There are many well-known websites that provide searchable databases of available scholarships. You can search these sites by criteria such as academics, religious affiliation, race, gender, and so on to help you find a scholarship for which you may be eligible.
You can read more about scholarship scams on the following pages: the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)'s "Scholarship and Financial Aid Scams", College Board's "How to Spot Scholarship Scams", and the U. S. Department of Education (USDOE)'s —Scholarship Scams.
When evaluating a website to determine if it is a legitimate source of scholarship information, ask these questions:
- Is there an "about" page with clear information about the company or the web page?
- Is there information about how and why the scholarship was established?
- Is the content of the site regularly updated?
- Does the site ask you for financial information or other person details; it shouldn't!
- Does the site attempt to sell you anything; because it shouldn't!
UNC Charlotte maintains a listing of outside scholarship opportunities students may consider, by visiting scholarships.uncc.edu and clicking on the Outside Scholarships link under the “scholarship listings” tab at the top of the screen. The university has taken time to review these opportunities and the host organization. However, each host business and organization is external to UNC Charlotte and administers application collection, review and recipient selection processes independent from the university. Students should always be mindful to only provide information that is required as part of a standard scholarship application, and never provide financial or sensitive information when seeking a scholarship. For more information about the outside scholarship opportunities posted on this page, contact the University Scholarship Office at 704‑687‑5871 or scholarships@uncc.edu.
The original blog was written by Taylor J. Valley, a Graduate Assistant in the University Scholarship Office at UNC Charlotte, and a student in the Master of Public Administration program. It was most recently edited by Katie Franck, an Undergraduate Project Assistant in the University Scholarship Office, and a student in the Bachelor of Science Psychology program.
Source
O'Driscoll, Aimee, "How to spot and avoid scholarship scams." VPN & Privacy, Comparitech.
October 18, 2019
www.comparitech.com/blog/information-security/scholarship-scams/