A financial aid scam is making its way to Penn State students and their parents. An organization has mailed solicitations to students or their parents asking them to provide social security numbers and personal information on a "Student Aid Profile Form." The company also indicates students should return a fee with the form in order to be considered for additional aid. This solicitation did not come from Penn State, and should not be filled out.
Penn State's Office of Student Aid would like to remind families that they should always be wary of any individual or organization that offers grants or scholarships for a fee. Students and their parents should never provide bank account, credit card or other sensitive information to any individual soliciting personal information over the telephone, via the mail, or e-mail unless they have initiated the contact and trust the company.
If students and their parents fall victim to scammers, the U.S. Department of Education recommends the following steps:
-- Contact their bank immediately to explain the situation and request that the bank monitor or close the compromised account.
-- Report the fraud to the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Inspector General hotline at (800) MIS-USED (800-647-8733) or http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml online. Special agents in the Office of Inspector General investigate fraud involving federal education dollars.
-- Report the fraud to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC has an online complaint form at https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01 online, a hotline at (877) FTC-HELP (877-382-4357), and a teletype for the hearing impaired at (866) 653-4261. The FTC will investigate if the fraud is deemed widespread; therefore, it is important that every individual contacted by the person or people in question register a complaint so the FTC has an accurate idea of how many incidents have occurred.
-- Notify the police about the incident. Impersonating a federal officer is a crime, as is identity theft.
Families should visit the Department of Education's Web site at http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/misused/idtheft.html online for additional information about identity theft prevention and student aid scams. They also should visit the Federal Student Aid Web site at www.studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/lsa.jsp online for information about searching for financial aid and avoiding scams.