With the new academic year underway, new and current students and recent graduates alike are being warned about a new spate of scam emails. This scam comes up almost every year, typically at the start of a new academic year in a bid to catch out new students who may be unsure how their loan accounts work. The problem has become so bad that the Student Loan Company is sending out information to all students. Here, we present some hints and tips to avoid scammers.
By Stomchak (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
The Typical Scam Format
The first wave of new scam emails arrived in the summer as first years began heading to university. No doubt, the scammers are hoping to catch out unawares freshers. They appear as any phishing scam, requesting personal details and financial records. Typically, the scams ask for information related to the account such as passwords and bank details. They are usually accompanied by a threat that payments will be delayed or cancelled if you fail to respond. As with any other phishing type scam, you should never respond except to forward them to fraud investigators at SLC.
Identifying Scams and Staying Safe Online
The Salutation
A personalised email from your service provider should be addressed to the account holder, referring to them by name. As no two account issues are the same, you can expect SLC to use your preferred name. However, these emails often say “Dear Student” or “Dear New Student”, showing just how many are sent out each day.
Remember “Scammer Grammar”
Scam emails often have poor spelling and grammar. Referred to in internet culture as “Scammer Grammar”, you will soon notice tell-tale signs of a scam email. The language will be flamboyant and over the top yet of such poor quality it’s unlikely that a native speaker wrote it. Poor spelling and grammar is often one of the most indicative signs of a scam.
Check the Email Address
You are looking out for two things. Firstly, check the spelling. “Scammer Grammar” also applies to email details. Look for signs that it has come from “costumer services” or “student servises”. The second thing to look out for is the email server. Student Loans Company will never use a Google or Yahoo address. If it comes from any server other than something alluding directly to SLC, it’s not genuine.
Never Click a Link
Financial services are wise to tricks and scams and will not even include a hyperlink for you to click. Their instructions will be something along the lines of “log in through the usual way and update your details”. If you do click a link, check the web address. If it doesn’t go direct to the SLC website, it is a scam.
If you receive a scam email, forward to Student Loan Company at phishing@slc.co.uk