Financial Aid Fraud - Don’t Be A Victim

News about a new financial aid scam!   Someone claiming to be a representative of the U.S. Department of Education is calling students, offering them grants, and asking for their bank account numbers so a processing fee can be charged.   Specifically, the caller tells the student he understands the student has federal student loans and offers to replace the loans with an $8,000 grant.   The caller explains a processing fee must be charged and asks for the student’s checking account information.

• There is no Department of Education program to replace loans with grants!
• There is no processing fee to obtain grants from the federal government!
• Never Provide Your Bank Account Or Credit Card Information Over The Phone Unless You Initiated The Call And Trust The Company You Are Calling!

If you are a victim of this or a similar scam, take the following steps:

• Immediately contact your bank, explain the situation, and request the bank monitor or close the account.
• Report the fraud to the Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General hotline at 1-800-MIS-USED (1-800-647-8733) or online at oig.hotline@ed.gov.
• Report the fraud to the Federal Trade Commission at their hotline, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or online at www.ftc.gov/scholarshipscams.
• Notify the police about the incident.   Impersonating a federal officer is a crime, as is identity theft.

When filing complaints, you should provide detailed information about the incident, including what was said, the name of the person who called, and from what number the call originated (if you were able to obtain it via Caller ID).   Also, if unauthorized debits have already appeared against your bank account, you should mention this fact in your complaint.   Records of such debits could be useful in locating the wrongdoer.

For information about identity theft prevention, you may visit www.ed.gov/misused.   For information about preventing financial aid scams, visit www.studentaid.ed.gov/lsa.

(This information provided by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.)