Students, generally international are subject to been particularly vulnerable to financial crimes when paying towards their university fees. Please be aware that online and telephone financial fraud is on the rise. Often fraudsters will offer significant discounts, incentives, or attractive exchange rates. Please remember that if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Tuition and accommodation fees should always be paid directly to ºÚÁÏÍø.
You should never provide your personal or banking details to any company or individual that says it offers discounts or preferable exchange rates.
Most common scams to look out for include:
- Fee payment scams: use of unknown external third-party agents making a payment on the student’s behalf or FX Bureau agents. You can also be approached by a fraudster and/or another student either in person or via social media. They will offer to provide help to pay forthcoming tuition fees. The fraudster will initiate the tuition fee payment using a stolen bank, debit/credit details. However, the fraudster is well aware the payment is unlikely to be successful and will disappear before the payment is chargedback when reported by the genuine cardholder with their bank. Another example includes where the fraudster will appear to have made a successful payment by sending you a copy of the receipt showing the full payment made. In reality, all they have done is made a successful payment of an lower amount example £1 / £5 etc using their card or a stolen debit/credit card and then altered the receipt to make it seem like they have made a full tuition fee payment.
- Money muling: the ‘money mule’ trap involves students being offered payment in exchange for receiving money temporarily into their bank account. They will then be asked to withdraw the cash to hand over or transfer it on. This type of scam is on the increase, targeting students who are short of cash and may be tempted by offers to make ‘easy money’ on job search or social media websites.
Losing money on tuition fees can have serious consequences on your studies and admission. Money Laundering is a serious criminal offence, and it is treated as such by Law Enforcement. Indirectly, you get involved in that process and there could be an enquiry. Severe impact on your reputation.
Advice for students:
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- Be mindful of ongoing scams.Learn more about Tuition Fee and Refunds Scam, Money Laundering, Secure websites, Phishing, and Card Payment Scams.
- Request for a number to call back. Usually, a fraudster will never give out their details. Do not share anything over a phone call . Do not share your bank account number, credit or debit card details, PIN with anyone. Your bank will never ask for full details over the phone, like the PIN.
- Avoid sharing any details about your college/ course, University login credentials with anyone, especially on social media with strangers, any third party agent.
- When in doubt, always contact the University Finance department. Never be pressured by any deadline, threats of retaliation or threats to revoke your student visa if payment is not made.
- Be cautious of unsolicited offers of easy money or discounts. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There are no discounts on tuition fees offered via our social media channels. Beware of favourable exchange rates provided by unsolicited agents.
- Do not feel pressurised to transfer the money to an unknown individual. Stay calm, be aware and sceptical of such scams and act accordingly
For further guidance please access the or .
If you or your appointed third party is found to have made a fake/fraudulent payment, the University will hold you responsible and take disciplinary actions against you which may result in your de-registration from the course immediately. We strongly advice that payments on your account are either made by yourself or an immediate trust-worthy member of family and not by an unknown third party. The University is not accountable of any financial loss to yourself and you will be asked to settle any charges payable to the University.