The Back-to-School Scams Hitting Students and Families Right Now

August can be an expensive month for families with students heading back to school or off to college. Tuition bills are due, leases are being signed, textbooks need to be purchased, and students may be applying for jobs or managing their own finances for the first time.

Unfortunately, scammers know that too. Back-to-school season creates plenty of opportunities to catch people when they're busy, under pressure, or expecting to receive financial emails, calls and texts. Here are some of the scams showing up right now and a few simple ways to protect yourself and your family.

Student loan "forgiveness" offers are everywhere

Federal student loan repayment changed on July 1. The SAVE plan has ended, a new income-driven option called the Repayment Assistance Plan is now available, and loan servicers are sending notices asking some borrowers to review their repayment options. Borrowers still enrolled in plans being phased out have until July 1, 2028, to make changes, but the amount of information being sent right now can be confusing.

Scammers take advantage of that confusion by offering to enroll borrowers in repayment plans, reduce their payments or secure loan forgiveness in exchange for a fee.

The Federal Trade Commission shut down a California operation in April that allegedly cold-called borrowers, claimed to work with the Department of Education and charged monthly fees that reached as high as $1,400 for services that borrowers could have handled themselves. In July, the operator of another student debt relief scheme that collected more than $45.9 million was permanently banned from the debt relief industry.

There are two important things to remember. Applying for a federal repayment plan, Public Service Loan Forgiveness or other federal student loan programs is free through StudentAid.gov. Your federal loan servicer can also help you with those options without charging you.

There is also no special company that can move your application to the front of the line or provide secret access to a Department of Education program. Be especially cautious of anyone who contacts you unexpectedly and demands an upfront payment.

If someone calls claiming they can help with your student loans, don't rely on the number or link they provide. Go directly to StudentAid.gov or contact your loan servicer using information you already know is legitimate. Scammers may already know details such as your loan balance or servicer name, so knowing information about your account doesn't necessarily mean the caller is legitimate.

Scholarships that charge you to apply

Legitimate scholarships are designed to give students money, not collect money from them.

Be cautious of scholarship programs that guarantee you'll win an award, charge a fee to access supposedly exclusive grants, pressure parents to sign up for a service during a seminar, or tell you that you've won a scholarship you never applied for but need to pay a "processing fee” before receiving it.

Government grant programs also don't randomly contact people to announce that they've been selected for education money. An unexpected email promising a grant should be treated with suspicion, regardless of how official the email or website may look.

Your school's financial aid office, state higher education agency and established scholarship databases are good places to start looking for legitimate opportunities without paying someone simply to provide a list.

Fake apartments and sublets

Rental scams can be especially damaging because the amounts involved are often much larger than other back-to-school scams.

The FTC says consumers have reported losing roughly $65 million to rental scams since 2020, with adults between the ages of 18 and 29 about three times more likely to report being targeted. The Better Business Bureau has also found that 43% of people searching for rentals online encountered a listing that turned out to be fraudulent.

Many of these scams follow the same pattern. Someone copies the photos and description from a legitimate property, replaces the contact information and reposts the apartment or house on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist or another rental site. The price is often just low enough to attract attention without looking completely unbelievable.

Students moving from another city are particularly vulnerable because they may feel pressured to secure housing without seeing the property in person.

Before paying a deposit, try to see the unit yourself or have someone you trust visit it. Search the address online and compare listings, prices and contact information. If the same photos appear under another person's name, that's a major warning sign.

Avoid landlords who insist on wire transfers, cryptocurrency or gift cards. You should also be cautious about sending a Social Security number, bank information or a deposit before you've verified who owns or manages the property. Many colleges also have housing offices that can help students review leases or identify common problems before anything is signed.

Job offers that arrive by text

Fake job offers are another growing problem, particularly for students looking for part-time or remote work.

The FTC warned consumers this spring about recruiters sending unsolicited texts offering remote positions. Some don't even include a suspicious link. Instead, the message simply asks the recipient to reply with something such as "YES" or "INTERESTED," confirming that the phone number belongs to a real person before the scam continues.

One common version involves a fake check. The supposed employer sends the student a check to purchase equipment, asks them to deposit it and then instructs them to send some of the money to a vendor. The money may appear in the student's account at first, but when the check is eventually identified as fraudulent, the deposit disappears and the student is responsible for the money that was sent.

Another version recruits people to receive and forward payments, sometimes converting the money into cryptocurrency and keeping a percentage. What sounds like an easy remote job can actually turn the student into a money mule moving stolen money through their personal financial account.

A legitimate employer should never require you to move company money through your personal account, send money to another person as part of getting hired or purchase equipment by forwarding funds from a check they just sent you. Be particularly cautious of employers recruiting entirely through unsolicited WhatsApp, Telegram or text messages.

Textbook deals that are too good to be true

Textbook prices can make a heavily discounted copy look tempting, especially when someone claims they need to sell it quickly.

But August is also a busy month for counterfeit textbooks and sellers offering books that don't exist. Someone offering a $300 textbook for $40 while insisting on immediate payment through Zelle, Venmo or another person-to-person payment service should raise questions.

Buying through a campus bookstore, established textbook reseller or library reserve program offers more protection. If you're buying directly from another student, meet somewhere safe on campus and make sure the book is actually in your hands before paying.

Protect the accounts behind the money

Not every back-to-school scam starts with an obvious sales pitch. Some begin with a text or email that looks like it came from a college financial aid office, bursar, bank or credit union.

Once a scammer has your login credentials, the problem can quickly spread beyond one account.

Turn on multi-factor authentication for school email, student portals, StudentAid.gov and financial accounts whenever it's available. Never give a one-time verification code to someone who called or texted you. That code is often the final security step protecting your account, and a legitimate financial institution won't call and ask you to read it back.

Person-to-person payment services such as Zelle, Venmo and Cash App should also be treated much like cash. Make sure you know exactly who you're paying before sending money because recovering an authorized payment can be difficult.

Students should never allow friends, roommates or employers to use their accounts to receive or transfer money. Even when the request sounds harmless, the account holder can end up dealing with frozen funds, fraud claims and other serious problems.

Parents of children under 18 may also want to consider freezing their child's credit with the three major credit bureaus. A credit freeze is free and can help prevent identity thieves from opening accounts using a child's information before the family even knows that information has been compromised.

The tuition call that sounds exactly like your child

One scam families should talk about before students leave for school involves artificial intelligence and voice cloning.

Today's voice-cloning technology can recreate someone's voice from a relatively small audio sample, and many students already have plenty of usable audio publicly available through social media.

A parent or grandparent may receive a frantic phone call that appears to be from their child or grandchild. The caller says there's a problem with tuition, registration, housing, an arrest or another emergency and money needs to be sent immediately. They may also insist that the family member doesn't tell anyone else about what's happening.

The easiest defense doesn't require any technology. Pick a family code word that isn't posted anywhere online and require it anytime someone calls asking for emergency money. Then hang up and call the family member back using the phone number you already have saved.

Schools do not demand emergency tuition payments using gift cards, cryptocurrency or other unusual payment methods. If you're told you need to pay immediately to keep a student enrolled, contact the school directly using the phone number listed on its official website.

If you've already sent money

Act quickly. Contact your financial institution as soon as you realize something may be wrong. Depending on how the payment was made and how quickly the fraud is reported, there may still be an opportunity to stop a transaction or limit additional losses.

Change passwords for any accounts that may have been exposed and review them for unfamiliar activity. Fraud can also be reported at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and a police report may be helpful when working through an insurance claim, identity a theft case or payment dispute.

When something doesn't feel right, check with us first

Scams keep changing, but one of the best ways to protect yourself hasn't changed at all: slow down and verify before sending money or giving someone access to your account.

As a Nuvision member, you don't have to make that call alone. If you receive a suspicious text, email or phone call involving your account, contact us before taking action. Nuvision will never call and ask you for your PIN, password or one-time verification code. If you're unsure whether you're really speaking with us, hang up and call the number on the back of your card or visit a Nuvision branch.

Helping our members protect what they've worked for is an important part of our looking out for their financial well-being. A few extra minutes spent checking something with us can prevent a scammer from turning an already expensive back-to-school season into a much bigger problem.