Scammers Target Foreign Students' School Fees in UK
Fraudsters are increasingly targeting foreign students and their families at independent schools in the UK, intercepting fee payments through sophisticated cyber attacks. According to a recent survey of 100 fee-paying independent schools, all have been hit by attempted or successful cyber-attacks on average once a year.
The scammers' modus operandi typically involves hacking into the email addresses of parents and then sending fake emails claiming to be from the school's bursar, instructing them to pay fees to a different bank account. These emails often include attractive offers of discounts – sometimes up to 25% - in an attempt to lure parents into making payments quickly.
Experts warn that foreign students are particularly vulnerable due to language barriers and their tendency to miss warning signs associated with scam emails. "If you've got parents who English is not their first language, it's easier for criminals to duplicate documents and convince them things are authentic that aren't," says Simon Freeman, managing director of Iris Education, which carried out the research.
The average amount lost to these scams is £3,200, although there have been cases where families have lost much more. In one instance, a company managing foreign students' visas was hacked, allowing scammers to steal data and then carry out successful attacks on parents.
Parents are advised to be vigilant when receiving any email or message that seems unusual or urgent. They should contact the school through official channels and check whether the request is genuine before making any payments. Anyone who thinks they have been defrauded should report it to their bank immediately and the central hub for reporting fraud and online crime, Report Fraud.
Fraudsters are increasingly targeting foreign students and their families at independent schools in the UK, intercepting fee payments through sophisticated cyber attacks. According to a recent survey of 100 fee-paying independent schools, all have been hit by attempted or successful cyber-attacks on average once a year.
The scammers' modus operandi typically involves hacking into the email addresses of parents and then sending fake emails claiming to be from the school's bursar, instructing them to pay fees to a different bank account. These emails often include attractive offers of discounts – sometimes up to 25% - in an attempt to lure parents into making payments quickly.
Experts warn that foreign students are particularly vulnerable due to language barriers and their tendency to miss warning signs associated with scam emails. "If you've got parents who English is not their first language, it's easier for criminals to duplicate documents and convince them things are authentic that aren't," says Simon Freeman, managing director of Iris Education, which carried out the research.
The average amount lost to these scams is £3,200, although there have been cases where families have lost much more. In one instance, a company managing foreign students' visas was hacked, allowing scammers to steal data and then carry out successful attacks on parents.
Parents are advised to be vigilant when receiving any email or message that seems unusual or urgent. They should contact the school through official channels and check whether the request is genuine before making any payments. Anyone who thinks they have been defrauded should report it to their bank immediately and the central hub for reporting fraud and online crime, Report Fraud.
these scammers are getting more sneaky by the day! 
i mean, £3,200 is a lot of cash, but at least parents are being warned now 
. gotta be super cautious when it comes to those email scams, especially if you don't speak english fluently 
. schools have gotta step up their cybersecurity game too 
can't let scammers get away with this #CyberSecurityMatters #ScamAwareness #ProtectYourMoney
I mean who wouldn't want a 25% discount on their kid's school fees lol but seriously its super bad news for foreign students & their families. They can get taken advantage of cuz of language barriers and they dont know how to spot fake emails 
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They're already dealing with all this stress of studying abroad and trying to navigate a new country, and then these scammers come along and try to take advantage of them. I know it's not the parents' fault, they're just doing what they think is best, but it's still really unfair.
They're just sitting there, waiting for someone to get hit by an email from a fake bursar... 
I mean, can't they set up some kind of email security system? 
I've seen some pretty good deals on online shopping sites that offer more than that. 
But at the same time, parents might not even know what's going on because their kid is too busy with school and studying to check their email regularly. 
Maybe schools can work together with banks and cyber security experts to create some kind of system that prevents these attacks? 
Or maybe parents should just be more careful when receiving emails from unknown senders? 