Scots students are being urged to watch out for smishing scams as they settle into the new university term.
Last year the Students Loans Company stopped £2.9 million of maintenance loan payments being taken by smishing and phising scams where students received and acted on false communications.
But the SLC ask students to be vigilant and point out they never ask them to provide or verify their personal or financial information via email or text.
Now Franz Ostendorff, author of CasinoRevisor, has issued some helpful advice to stop students being scammed.
Ostendorff said: “Scammers target students at this time of year as they receive their first maintenance loan payment.
“Smishing is fraud via text message, asking students to click a link and complete a task. This can be anything from verifying bank details or personal information.
“It is important to pay extra attention to any communication received by Student Loans Company over the next couple of weeks.”
And he advised: “Students mustn’t click on any links or provide information to anyone over the phone without authenticating the email or phone call, no matter how legitimate they may sound.
“Keep an eye out for any suspicious-looking emails, phone calls or text messages, especially around the time of expected payment.
“SLC will never initiate contact through WhatsApp or social media channels, including Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok.
“Any messages which convey a sense of urgency are also unlikely to be genuine. Also, check the quality of the communication, including misspellings, poor punctuation, and bad grammar, which are often signs of phishing.
“If a student receives a communication from SLC that they are unsure of, they should log into their online account to verify if it’s genuine.”