Five (5) Ways to Identify Study Abroad Scholarship Scams.

Studying in the UK can be very expensive with the cost of tuition, Accommodation and other added costs, so the offer of a scholarship that covers some or all of your tuition fees can be very tempting. Unfortunately, Scammers know how attractive and profitable it can be and they exploit the eagerness of prospective students by advertising fake study abroad scholarships usually offering a large amount of money in order to attract people so they can prey on their desperation.
I noticed this trend and through the personal accounts of people, I have been able to compile a list of five (5) ways to identify fake study abroad scams. Check out the List below:


1. Application Fees
Organizations that offer scholarships will never ask potential candidates for money while applying. Scholarship providers typically want to offer equal opportunities to all who may be qualified, so they don’t ask for any application fee and leave every applicant to decide their fate through the quality of their applications.
Scholarship providers send out warnings during scholarship processing periods, informing the public about the activities of fraudsters acting as agents on their behalf, who are only intent on Scamming eager candidates.


2. Guaranteed Scholarships
If any organization/Company or scholarship providing organization offers a guaranteed scholarship, its mostly likely a scam because organizations offering a Legitimate scholarship opportunity will never be advertised as guaranteed. These companies will just ask for a fee and may even offer a money back guarantee but will never get you a scholarship. The only people who can guarantee that you will receive a scholarship are members of a scholarship committee — when they are notifying you that you have been selected.


3. Loan Fees
You should be careful of “Loan companies and scholarship providing organizations” that ask for a loan fee before they will disburse any money to you. Real loan companies will add fees to your loan balance which you repay over time and will never ask you to pay a fee upfront.


4. Asking for Personal Information.
It is common for many prospective Students to be asked to hand over personal information as part of the scholarship application process. However, you should never provide any personal information like your passport number, your bank details such as ATM card PIN, BVN and Security numbers or any other kind of identification that can be used for fraud.
If you come across any scholarship providing organization asking for any personal information, you can always run an internet search on the organization or contact the university you are applying to and ask for guidance.


5. Poorly Made Websites and No Institutional E-mail
One of the most effective ways to Spot fraudulent scholarship opportunities is by paying attention to details. Fraudulent scholarship providing organizations don’t typically have standard websites and any Institutional E-mail and that’s deliberate so in the event of any fraudulent activity taken place they cannot be tracked. Most of these websites are usually loaded with pictures and writings plagiarized from other scholarship websites and no real content. It is advisable to run an internet search on any scholarship opening before you commit to it.

I hope this list has been helpful and you now know the different ways to identify any study abroad scholarship scams you might come across.

If you find this information helpful, share with a friend & tag someone who may be interested.

The best way is to look up the school via Wikipedia.


Thanks for this post.

chatinent:
The best way is to look up the school via Wikipedia.


Thanks for this post.

A fraudster might be using a legit school and scholarship to scam unsuspecting victims.

thesicilian:

A fraudster might be using a legit school and scholarship to scam unsuspecting victims.

The idea of looking up Wikipedia is not to check if it's scam.

It's to verify their official link and surf the school's website for info.

Of course, a human will only apply on the school's website.

chatinent:



The idea of looking up Wikipedia is not to check if it's scam.

It's to verify their official link and surf the school's website for info.

Of course, a human will only apply on the school's website.

I get your point now.

thesicilian:

I get your point now.

All right, man.