Student Loans Company warns of fraud and smishing scams ahead of 2024 loan payment dates

Students in the UK have been advised to remain vigilant against scams as they await the student finance loan payment date in January 2024.

According to the Student Loans Company (SLC), scammers may attempt to trick unwary students into providing their personally identifiable information (PII) through various social engineering schemes, including phishing emails, texts, or unsolicited phone calls pretending to be from legitimate organizations such as the SLC or Student Finance England.

More recently, the SCL has been made aware of an ongoing phishing campaign impersonating the company where scammers tell students to expect a call from a private number to verify their payment details.

“The email is being sent from an @outlook.com address and is not an official SLC email. SLC will never proactively contact students to verify bank details ahead of a payment date,” the SCL explained.

Moreover, students will never be urged or provide PII or financial information via unsolicited emails or texts.

“With the sophistication of scams increasing, students need to be vigilant. For students who started study in the autumn, we are reminding them to stay alert to any unusual or suspicious communication about their next payment,” Alan Balanowski, Risk Director at Student Loans Company said. “And for those starting their courses in January, this may be the first time they have had any kind of payment from SLC, so it’s important that they are aware of what to look out for.”

How to stay safe and spot scams

• Always check for grammar mistakes and misspellings
• Never provide sensitive information (cc numbers, account numbers, IDs or passwords) via unsolicited correspondence
• Report suspicious texts via 7726 and alert the company
• use official communication channels to verify if the message you received is genuine
• Be mindful of the data you share online and on social media platforms
• Remember that Student Finance England (SFE) does not provide any services through WhatsApp and will never initiate contact via social media platforms  media to discuss their loan application or student finance entitlement
• If you fall victim to scams, file an official report with the police and the UK’s national reporting center for fraud and cybercrime.

Use Bitdefender Scamio to find out if any unsolicited correspondence is a scam. Have a chat with our AI-powered scam detector or submit a screenshot or link via your web browser or Facebook Messenger to ensure your safety and protect the digital you against all kinds of scams.