FBI: Fraudsters Targeting Americans Seeking Student Loan Relief

The FBI has issued a public service announcement warning that fraudsters are targeting citizens seeking federal student loan relief. Scammers are after personal data, financial data, and will even try to get victims to make payments.

Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris administration kicked off the Student Loan Debt Relief Plan (2022 SDRP) to help households with low incomes.

Under the plan, the government will provide up to $20,000 of debt cancellation for Pell Grant recipients, and up to $10,000 for non-Pell Grant recipients. A Pell Grant is a subsidy the federal government provides to students who to pay for college.

According to the FBI, scammers are on alert trying to dupe unwary citizens into applying for a loan relief via fake websites, emails, texts or phone scams.

“Cybercriminals and fraudsters may purport to offer entrance into the Federal Student Loan Forgiveness program, contacting potential victims via phone, email, mail, text, websites, or other online chat services,” says the Bureau. “Cybercriminals and fraudsters use their schemes to receive payment for services they will not provide or collect victim information they can then use to facilitate a variety of other crimes.”

The fed clarifies that any federal student aid program supported by the US government will never requires payment.

Scammers have been observed using electronic communication methods to impersonate government employees and explain how a recipient qualifies for government aid. Scammers will then claim to need personally identifiable information or money from the victim to complete the application process.

“They may email or text the victim, with a body of text containing a link to follow,” the notice reads. “Once a victim clicks on what is thought to be a legitimate link to the official federal website, the website will request personally identifiable information (PII) such as name, social security number, date of birth, current and previous addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, mother’s maiden name, or social media handles to complete the process.”

Some will seek to obtain financial information, such as bank account and routing numbers, credit or debit card numbers, digital wallet addresses, or other peer to peer money service transfer account information to process what is, in fact, a fake application form.

Phone scams work pretty much the same: fraudsters may call victims claiming to be representatives of a bank or the Department of Education and ask for the victim’s PII and financial information to begin the application process for loan repayment.

Americans are told to stay vigilant and follow these guidelines:

·      Do not open links from suspicious email addresses

·      Always verify websites provided via email or text are official US government websites

·      Confirm any information regarding loan repayment with the financial institution or company providing the loan

·      Exercise caution when entering any personally identifiable or financial information on websites

·      Exercise caution when downloading images or files from unknown or unsolicited emails

·      Ensure there are no spelling or grammatical errors on the website or in the email

The FBI urges Americans to keep in mind that the US government will never charge processing fees in any type of currency – traditional or cryptocurrencies -  for the 2022 Student Loan Debt Relief Plan.

Citizens are only to visit https://studentaid.gov to apply for relief, as well as to get official information on debt cancelation, eligibility, and other specifics of the program.

If you believe to be a victim of an internet scam of any sort, the agency recommends reporting to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center at https://www.ic3.gov/ as quickly as possible.