The student loan scam looking to dupe already anxious students
Scammers hope to siphon off some of the £2.6bn in student maintenance funds paid out each September
TL;DR
- Students are receiving fake text messages claiming their bank details on their student finance account have been changed.
- The texts direct students to a cloned SLC website where they enter their login and bank details, which are then stolen by criminals.
- Scammers use these details to alter the genuine student account and divert loan payments.
- Around £519,000 was lost to scammers defrauding 168 students in the last academic year, though many more had details changed but the fraud was stopped.
- The scam is timed with the start of the academic year and the disbursement of student loan payments, exploiting students' potential anxiety about receiving their funds.
- The SLC states it will not ask for personal or financial information via email, text, or social media and advises logging in through the Gov.uk website.
- Students are warned against publicizing payment dates on social media and should be suspicious of contact via WhatsApp or social media initiated by the SLC.
- Students can report fraudulent emails to [email protected] and scam texts to 7726.