12 Common Scams That Target College Kids

I am sharing this  guest article  with permission as it comes from http://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.com


There’s a lot of room for growing pains in college, from switching your majors to learning how to juggle work and school to living on your own. And while figuring out your personal finances is also good practice in college, certain scams threaten to turn an honest mistake into something much worse, even illegal. From diploma mills to phishing on job boards to scary credit card deals, here are 12 common scams that target college kids– scams that every student should know about to safeguard their identity and bank account information.

1.  Buying books online: Since college students are online a significant number of hours each week anyway, many scamming companies believe it’s an easy way to commit identity theft and credit card fraud. A common trick is to sell ridiculously discounted textbooks, but once you submit your credit card information, you may not ever see those books — and might discover that you’ve lost thousands of dollars from identity theft.
2.  Fake credit card applications: IdentityHawk published a helpful article on another very common scam targeting college students — fake credit card applications. Credit card companies often show up on campus, luring students into bad credit card contracts, but mixed in with the legitimate — if unfair — offers are identity thieves who’ve set up tables and give out t-shirts, too. These companies can make easy money by stealing the information they collect on students’ applications and by skimming small amounts of money each statement, spread out over long periods of time so that students — who don’t usually read their statements very carefully — won’t notice. If you want a credit card, go right to the bank, and don’t sign up for one from a booth on campus.
3.  Advance Fee Scam: Lynnette Khalfani-Cox explains that this scam involves asking students for advance fees in order to secure student loans. Sometimes, these fees can be up to 3 or 4% of the total loan, but legitimate agencies never ask for this sort of payment. Hang up the phone or walk away immediately if you’re approached with this type of offer.
4.  Address farming: Another identity theft scam zeroes in on larger groups of students, like Greek organizations and other clubs. Thieves ask these organizations for lists of addresses and other personal information of all the members, promising credit cards or other services, but disappear once they have enough information to steal their identities. It’s an easy trick, because with minimal effort, thieves can walk away with hundreds of fake accounts.
5.  Diploma mills: Diploma mills are very serious scams that all prospective college students should be aware of. Any school or organization that has no brick-and-mortar address — even an online school should have one — or that promises a diploma for little-to-no work is probably issuing diplomas and degrees that are fraudulent. You might pay years worth of "tuition" to a fake company, and will have no degree or educational value to show for it. Check with the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) when researching higher education options, and never enroll in a school that isn’t accredited.
6.  Loan Consolidation Scam: If you intend to consolidate your student loans to bring down interest rates and organize payments, go right to the bank or credit card company. Unsolicited offers from companies may point to a scam that collects extra fees to help you get organized, but really just steals your money and doesn’t help you pay back any of your loans.
7.  Scholarship fraud: There are eight federally recognized scholarship scams in the United States, and the Federal Trade Commission lists them here. Through telemarketing and other strategies, individuals hide behind official-sounding names and offer scholarships to students in need. But no money is ever granted, and students’ identities are compromised.
8.  Identity theft via WiFi: Anyone using WiFi on an unsecured network is at risk for identity theft, but because college students more often take their computers to coffee shops, parks, restaurants and other public places to study, they might be at a higher risk for this type of scam. Use encryption software and password protection to block identity thieves when you work in public, and don’t log onto banking websites or other sites that contain very personal information.
9.  Debt elimination scam: Wouldn’t it be great if a stranger walked up to you and offered to help you pay off your student loans and debt? There’s a reason this fantasy should remain a dream — it’s too good to happen in real life. In fact, debt elimination scams are popular but completely illegal and fraudulent. If someone offers to help you pay off your debt — after you give them a fee — walk away. There are certain reasons the federal government will help you dissolve student loans, but that’s the only organization that can do so.
10.  Grant scam: Scammers calling students and claiming to be representatives from the U.S. Department of Education attempted to steal bank account numbers while they promised to give students grants for school, in the amount of $8,000. No money was ever awarded the students, and the scammers also asked for fees in addition to bank account information. Merced College shared with students tips for avoiding these scams, and recommended that if any calls were received, to contact your bank, asking them to monitor or close your bank account.
11.  Secret Shopper: Becoming a secret shopper can be a legitimate way to earn some extra money on the side, but this potential money-making opportunity was actually a scam targeting college students. University of Mobile students in Alabama were contacted by a fraudulent secret shopping company after applying for similar jobs online. They were sent information in the mail with instructions and forms to fill out, and even made calls to the company to verify that it existed. But despite all of the authoritative-looking documents — and checks that were even approved by banks — the company was a total scam, costing students $4,000 in a single transaction, and the potential for committing fraud themselves, since the checks they were sent from the company were forged from stolen bank accounts.
12.  Phishing on job boards: Brandeis posted a warning to students on its website about a phishing scam appearing on job boards. One company specifically targeted students at Brandeis, but similar scams can target other students as well. Report the job posting as a scam if it asks for your credit card and banking information, the e-mail address domain name does not match the alleged company name or employer name, and you are asked to accept a payment in exchange for wiring money or letting them use your bank account.

Joy Smith also known as The Insane Writer, is the author of the Sci-Fi novel, The Generation. You can email her at silent_beautie@yahoo.com She can also be found on Twitter @theinsanewriter.




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The Real Rules For Working at Home Part 1

For many at home parents, the idea of making a little money online sounds great. But, for some there's still that question of.... "How do I get started?"

If your goal is to make a little money online, the first thing you want to avoid are work-at-home scams.

The Number One Rule in this is: Any job asking you to send them money in order to make money is a SCAM. Simply put. You can argue all day long that, "Ohh, I can make money and get my money back by joining this program." However, I just don't and won't buy it. Now don't get me wrong, there are people out there who have made money this way, but I am a firm believer that you can make money online without having to spend money. Why? Well, because for most of us who are already on a tight budget, spending (wasting) money is something we simply can't afford.

Now let me add this. If you're spending money on a domain or upkeep for your website(s), or something along that line, that's different. What I am talking about is those work-at-home programs that ask you to send them money in order to get the job and then never pay up.... or ask you to send money and tell you in little tiny print that, "You could make money, but it's not a guarantee."

Number Two: You simply cannot expect to start a blog or a website and make big bucks overnight. It just doesn't happen that way. What you should expect is to make a reasonable amount of money overtime and then work your way up the ladder from there.

Number Three: It takes time and a lot of work to make money. Even an at-home job isn't something as simple as a few clicks and you're rolling in the money. It takes a lot of hard work and patience to make your blog or website a killer success. Even after you begin making money, you can't just expect the blog or website to run by itself. You'll still have to update it in order to keep things fresh if you want to keep earning money.

Number Four: You can't expect to earn a steady amount of money if you just rely on one source. Soo many bloggers like John Chow, can tell you this. It's been known as the phrase: "Don't put all your eggs (ads) into one basket." And of course, it's true. This goes for more than just ads, however. If you write reviews or articles like I do, you can't limit yourself to writing for one source or company such as payperpost. You have to get out there and keep yourself open to other resources as well.


Okay, I think I've said enough for now. If you have something to add to the above, please feel free to comment. I'd love to hear what you have to say.

In the meantime, I'll be sharing how to get started in working at home and obtaining goals for making money, in future posts!

Those Damn Get Rich Quick Scams! Don't Spend Any Money!

I'm not one who is very trusting of people or marketing ideas when it comes to quick ways of making money online. In fact I am extremely leery!

We already know most get rich quick scams are just that, a scam. And most of the time, in return for signing up for their programs, you not only are wasting your time, you're wasting your hard earned money as well. That's why I will never sign up for a program that asks you to spend money.

Sure, some of you may disagree, but seriously.... Why spend money to make money? It's just completely insane in my opinion. Well, not too long ago I was chatting with a new friend who's also looking for ways to make some simple money. He found one and shared it with his friends.

It's an affiliate report that costs you nothing. Yep, it's absolutely free and in my thinking... The best things in life, come for free. Now what the report is, is it shows you how to make money as an affiliate. Hmm free information on making money. Pretty cool, I think.




To make the deal even sweeter and help spread the word, they're offering $1 referral for each new person who signs up for their free report. Then they're adding .50 per a referral for those new referrals who sign up others to do the same. Hmmm that adds up pretty easily.

Now here's my advice, if you decide to check this out for yourself, use a junk email address to send the report to. Make sure it's one that you can check, however. You'll need to check that email to confirm it. Just a one time thing, so no big deal. Then you can do as I am doing. Check out the free report and then make a little money by referring others to the report as well. Simple and easy.

The only thing is, it's a limited time thing for making money on those you do refer, so you might want to make this number one on your to-do-list. Still, even making a little extra money for a little while is still a sweet deal. Check it out.

Ebay Scammer and Judge Judy

When I had cable, I loved watching Judge Judy's Show. Today I was surfing another blogger's page when I ran across this video. It's of an ebay scammer trying to make a quick profit off a bogus ad and of course Judge Judy puts her right in her place. A big thanks to Elizabeth Rose for the video.