What is a financial scam and where do they happen?  

The Cambridge Dictionary definition of a scam is ‘a dishonest plan for making money or getting an advantage, especially one that involves tricking people’. Financial scams focus on the movement of money, be that stealing someone’s money through unauthorised transactions, not delivering on a service that someone has paid for or tricking someone into handling or helping move stolen money. Anyone can be the victim of a scam, especially now that scammers are coming up with more sophisticated ways of tricking and manipulating people. The internet is a great place for scammers to build trust and set traps. Whether you are replying to a job ad, buying a new pair of trainers, responding to comments on your socials, or checking your uni and personal email inboxes, it pays to stay vigilant in more ways than one.

How do scammers target students?

Students can be vulnerable to any type of scam, but there are some scammers that go out of their way to create a trap that is particularly appealing to students. Some of the most common ones we have seen recently include:

• Student loan company and agency scams. These scams often occur around the time that maintence loans are due to be paid to students (September, January, and April), and will usually come in the form of a text, email, or phone call that asks you to provide your personal details (such as name, date of birth, or bank details) to 'confirm who you are' before the money can be sent to you. Student Finance England (which is the sole provider of student loans in the UK) will never ask for any personal information like this before sending you your loan money, so if you receive any messages or calls asking for your personal details to receive your student loan, don't send them!
• Fake welcome and freshers passes. During freshers'/welcome week, you might see advertisements of unofficial events happening at the time. Someone might even come up to you in person to tell you about it. However, don't just assume these events are legitimate: you will likely be asked to purchase a 'freshers' pass' or 'tickets' to go to the event, but when you show up, it turns out the event isn't real, and your money was simply stolen from you. We offer official 'welcome passes' for freshers'/welcome week events, so only buy passes from official SU/university staff. You can also find a list of all freshers' events at the time on the Your Students' Union website.
• Work and job offer scams. Some scammers on social media may advertise 'great ways for students to make quick and easy money', and if you apply for one of these jobs, might ask you for your bank details or even for you to pay them a fee for a 'premium job'. This will usually result in the scammers being able to take money from you - always remember to only apply for jobs through trusted platforms such as Indeed, LinkedIn, and Reed and do some research about the company before you apply. A legitimate company will never ask you for money in order to apply for a job.

Your advice service has a detailed page dedicated to scams where you will find more information on a wider variety of the most common ones.

How can I protect myself and my money?

We hope that falling victim to a scam is something you will never have to experience, but if you do, there is plenty of help out there. Scammers are experts at playing on human emotions and manipulating people into believing or trusting them so you should never feel ashamed or embarrassed about asking for help. Day-to-day steps you can take to reduce your risk of getting to a point where you need support can include:

• Stop and think: if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Stop, think, and ask yourself: are they trying to get money from you quickly or urgently? Have you met these people or heard of the company before? Are they asking you to transfer money in a way that is difficult to record or leaves you with very few consumer rights - for example bank transfer or cash delivery? Always remember, it’s ok to initially reject, refuse or ignore any requests until you’ve checked them out. Real companies will not rush you, bribe you or try to cause you distress.
• Check, check, and check again: scammers have gotten really good at copying the design layout and branding of official companies’ emails and texts so that at a glance you would believe they really are who they are pretending to be. However, take a closer look and you may see one or two things that don’t look right. Does the email address look professional, or does it include random characters, numbers and/or punctuation? If it does, it shouldn’t. Does the message contain any spelling mistakes and is it addressed directly to you or to a more generic ‘dear sir/madam'? Messages that ask something of you should always be polished and addressed directly to the owner. Does that email you’ve just received from your bank have a part of your identifiable information on the top example account number or postcode? Banks use this method now as a way of distinguishing themselves from the fake emails that scammers create and send.
• Use reputable sites: if you want to treat yourself to an online purchase, try where possible to stick to reputable well known etailers. Always check a companies refund policies so you know you’re not going to be out of pocket if you don’t receive what you have paid for. A similar logic should be applied when looking for jobs online. Even on the more well-known job boards it’s a good idea to thoroughly research any company before replying to their job advert. Ads that contain vague information, roles that don’t include a staged application process (a CV/application form submission plus interview at the very least), or a point-blank refusal to provide you with any written record of transactions or agreements should all be seen as massive red flags.
• Keep watching your accounts: it is hard to quickly identify that money has gone out of your account if you don’t keep a regular check on your account balances. Luckily, most banks now have useful apps to make it super easy to check your money on the move. If you have your account details saved with any regular retailors that you use, like Amazon for example, be sure to turn on notifications so you will be instantly notified if a purchase is made that isn’t you. If you think you have lost money, contact your bank and report it to Action Fraud immediately.

Where can I find out more?

National Student Money Week is just around the corner! For Coventry-based students, West Midlands Police's Regional Fraud Development Officer will be giving 'Protect Your Pocket' presentations at the Hub in room 1.24 (upstairs near Student Union Reception) on the 5th of March around the topic of financial wellbeing and financial scams - one at 10:00 until 10:30, and one at 11:30 until 12pm (noon).

For guidance and support all year round, the Your SU website has several useful webpages on all things finance, including advice and information about banking, tuition fees, money management, financial support, and more!