As you settle into student life at Roehampton, it can be easy to get swept away with the excitement and not notice acts of cyber-crime and fraud until it’s too late. This is why we’re here to tell you all the key signs to prevent you becoming the victim of a scam.

Criminals use a wide range of tactics to steal your money or obtain personal information that can be used later in a fraud attempt. They can operate via:

Common Frauds targeting students

Students are often targeted by fraud messages pretending to be from legitimate organisations (e.g. the University). These may involve demand for money or personal information, often under the guise of immigration fines or other serious issues.

To stay safe, students should be cautious of unsolicited offers of easy money, research job offers from overseas and avoid sharing personal details unless absolutely certain of their legitimacy. If in doubt, it’s best to end the communication and report any suspicious contacts – find out more on the Report Fraud page.

1. Student loan fraud:

Criminals may impersonate the Student Loans Company (SLC) by targeting eligible international students with fake emails or calls.

If something doesn’t feel right to you, avoid clicking on any links or making any payments. Check if it’s genuine by logging into your online account or contact SLC directly using official contact details from their website.

2. Tuition fee fraud:

These typically involve students receiving unsolicited messages from individuals or “agents” claiming they can “offer discounts on tuition fee payments”.

If you receive an offer like this and something doesn’t feel right, stop, then seek advice from staff at University of Roehampton before you transfer money or share any personal or financial information. Contact details here.

3. UCAS fraud:

If you receive an email claiming to be from UCAS and you’re not sure that it is genuine, please send it to reportabuse@ucas.ac.uk so it can be investigated. UCAS will then let you know whether or not the email is genuine. Until they confirm it is genuine:

UCAS will never ask you for your bank or login details via email.

4. Visa and immigration fraud:

This can involve criminals impersonating Home Office officials or staff from a Visa Application Centre. If you receive a message or email regarding your visa application that feels threatening or you’re not sure if it’s genuine, stop and do not engage.

Legitimate visa officers will never contact you to ask for money in person or by email or phone. UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) will never text you requesting personal details.

5. Rental fraud:

If you can, always view the property in-person before you sign any contracts or make payment. If you are coming to study from overseas, get advice from the university about renting property – or, go through our on-campus accommodation.

Research the property listing online for any other extra information. (Criminals often steal information from genuine listings to create fake listings of their own.)

Where possible, avoid bank transfer payments; use credit or debit cards for better protection.

Other types of scams:

There are several other ways criminals can scam students – such as email and social media hacking, recruitment fraud, financial exploitation, police impersonation and more. 

Read more out those here.

Online safety checklist

Follow these simple steps to help protect yourself online:

• Secure your accounts, especially your email and bank account
• Set up a passkey wherever possible
• Use strong, separate passwords - you can use 3 random words or have a password manager suggest a password
• Enable 2-step verification
• Keep devices and software up to date
• Back up your important data
• Check your account recovery options

Download all available student protect advice resources here.

How to report

University Student Booklet

If you want to know more about how to protect yourself from cyber-crime and fraud, you can read the full guide for University Students here.