Phishing scams take more than £100,000 from students

A recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent to the Student Loan Company (SLC) has revealed that phishing scams have taken over £100,000 from students across the UK in the past few years.

The company Cyber Risk Aware requested the FOI from the SLC as part of a campaign to raise awareness about cyber criminals targeting students. Phishing scams about student loans, accommodation, and fake university events have resulted in 72 university students falling victim to fraud from September 2015 until December 2017.

According to Stephen Burke, the founder and CEO of Cyber Risk Aware, students are “particularly vulnerable” to such attacks as it is their first experience of financial independence. Hackers “exploit” this vulnerability by targeting student loans needed for accommodation and living expenses.

Emails containing malicious links are the typical strategy of cyber criminals. Recently, however, social media has been utilised in order to target even careful students. Burke explained that victims are often added to fake events requiring personal details as part of registration, telling The Boar that this takes advantage of students’ “fear of missing out”.

Social media has been utilised in order to target even careful students

The criminals then impersonate the students using the information acquired and redirect their funds. While there have been losses summing up to £108,205, the SLC claims that their Counter Fraud Services Department has prevented the further theft of over £700,000 during this period. Fraudulent interactions were identified at an early stage in 463 cases and ended before any payments were made.

The ability to detect fraudulent interactions has improved over the last few years, according to the SLC, and action can be taken before fraudsters change students’ account details.

The recent rise in reports of phishing schemes targeting students also caused the government-run company Action Fraud to address concerns in September 2017. The article addressed emails in particular, advising that students spam filter their emails. Some criminals have begun using odd spellings or capitals in their subject line in order to get past the filter, so students must remain vigilant.

Between September and December 2017 only four students have had their funds redirected. This is equivalent to one student fooled a month – an improvement on previous years – and yet these four students lost £6,238 between them.

Burke suggests that universities “could do more to build awareness”.