College students are targeted by scammers more than most people expect. The reasons make sense from the scammer's perspective: students are often managing finances on their own for the first time, they are actively applying for scholarships and jobs (so a message about either feels routine), and they tend to be busy enough that a quick reply without much scrutiny seems reasonable. The FTC reports that young adults aged 18–24 actually report losing money to fraud at higher rates than older adults — not because they are less smart, but because they are more active online and more likely to engage with unfamiliar messages.
Here are the scams hitting students hardest right now, and what to do about each one.
The scholarship scam is one of the oldest in the book, and it still works because it is so plausible. A student gets an email, text, or letter saying they have been selected for a scholarship, grant, or financial award. All they need to do is pay a processing fee, provide their bank account for the transfer, or verify their identity by submitting their FSA ID credentials.
The tell: legitimate scholarships never require a fee to claim them. Full stop. If you need to pay money to receive money, it is a scam. Real scholarships are competitive — they want to give the money to someone who qualified, and there is no cost to do that.
The FSA ID credential theft version is especially dangerous. Your FSA ID is the username and password for your federal student aid account. Giving it to someone else gives them control of your financial aid — they can redirect disbursements, change your contact information, and lock you out of your own account.
What to do: Search for the scholarship through your school's financial aid office or Fastweb and Scholarships.com — legitimate databases of real opportunities. Never pay to apply for or receive a scholarship. Never share your FSA ID with anyone, including people who claim to work in financial aid.
Every time there is news about student loan policy changes, a new wave of forgiveness scams follows. The scammer positions themselves as a company that can help you apply for loan forgiveness, consolidate your loans, or reduce your payments — for an upfront fee, or an ongoing monthly fee, or both.
The real application for federal student loan forgiveness programs (like PSLF or income-driven repayment plans) is free and done directly through your loan servicer or StudentAid.gov. Any company charging you to do something you can do for free is at best unnecessary and at worst outright fraud.
Some of these companies go further: they ask for your FSA ID and then change your contact information so all future correspondence goes to them instead of you. You lose visibility into your own loans while they collect your monthly fee indefinitely.
What to do: Handle all student loan questions directly through StudentAid.gov or your servicer. Hang up on any unsolicited calls about loan forgiveness. No legitimate loan servicer will call you out of the blue to offer a new program.
Fake job postings on LinkedIn, Indeed, and Handshake have become a serious problem. These listings look like real internship or entry-level positions from legitimate companies — sometimes they use real company names and logos. The hiring process moves quickly: a brief "interview" via chat, an offer letter, and then a request to buy equipment or software using a check or gift card the company "sends" you.
The check bounces after you have already forwarded the money. You are out whatever you sent. The job never existed.
Other variants skip the equipment angle entirely and just harvest your personal information — Social Security Number, bank account for "direct deposit setup," copies of your ID. That information is valuable on its own for identity theft and fraudulent account openings.
What to do: Verify the job posting by going directly to the company's official careers page and searching for the role. If it is not listed there, contact the company's HR department directly to confirm it exists. Legitimate employers do not send you money to buy your own equipment. Legitimate employers do not interview exclusively over text or chat. Do not provide your SSN or bank account information until you have verified the employer independently and have a signed offer letter on company letterhead.
Students who offer services — tutoring, dog walking, selling items online, doing odd jobs — are frequently targeted by overpayment scams. A "client" agrees to your rate, sends a check for significantly more than you asked for, and asks you to wire the difference back before they can arrange a pickup or explain the overage.
The check is fake. Your bank may make the funds available before the fraud is detected — banks are required to do this within certain timeframes — but the check will bounce a few days later, and you will owe the bank the full amount of whatever you deposited and then withdrew or sent.
This scam shows up on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and in response to any public-facing service offering. Any payment above the agreed amount followed by a refund request is a scam, every single time, regardless of how legitimate the story sounds.
As students set up apartments, they get targeted with fake utility setup calls. A scammer impersonates the local electric, gas, or water company and tells the student their service will be disconnected in a few hours unless they pay immediately — usually via gift card or wire transfer. The urgency is manufactured. Utility companies do not call you on short notice demanding immediate gift card payment. They send written notices well in advance.
Variations include fake campus IT support calls warning that a student's university account has been compromised and needs immediate verification, and fake housing office messages about overdue fees that need to be paid before a specific deadline.
What to do: Hang up. Call the utility company, IT department, or housing office directly using a number from their official website — not a number given to you during the suspicious call. No legitimate institution demands gift card payment on short notice over the phone.
Scammers specifically target students during high-stress periods — financial aid deadlines, internship application season, the start of the semester. Knowing that is one of the best defenses: when something about a financial offer feels urgent and you are already stretched thin, slow down rather than speed up.
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