Every year, several hundred thousand students and parents are defrauded by scholarship scams. The victims of these scams lose thousands, if not millions, of dollars collectively on an annual basis according to multiple sources. Scam operations often imitate legitimate government agencies, grant-giving foundations, education lenders and scholarship matching services, using official-sounding names containing words like “National,” “Federal,” “Foundation,” or “Administration.”
This section provides advice on how to identify such scholarship scams, how to distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent organizations, how to protect yourself from scholarship scams; and what to do if you are scammed.
In general, be wary of scholarships with an application fee, scholarship matching services who guarantee success, advance-fee loan scams and sales pitches disguised as financial aid “seminars”.
