Scammers hope to siphon off some of the £2.6bn in student maintenance funds paid out each September
Y
ou are about to start university and can’t wait but then you receive a worrying text message. It is a few days before the first student loan payment is due to land in your account and apparently someone has tried to alter your bank details.
“Our records indicate that your bank details on your student finance account were changed on Friday 16th. If you did not do this please contact us immediately,” says the text.
You click on the web link in the message and go to what you think is the website of the Students Loans Company (SLC), the government body that administers loans and grants. You log in to check that everything is OK, put in your bank details and the screen says: “Thanks for confirming.” But what you have done is supply this important information to criminals.
