School is starting up for BYU-Idaho students on Sept. 17, which is a time when these young adults will look for jobs, apply for scholarships and when high school seniors start looking into applying for college. Jeremy Johnson from the Better Business Bureau warns this is also a time when scammers try to get your information.
When the word scam comes up a picture that comes to mind might be a sweet older woman on the phone unwittingly giving money to a shady criminal masquerading as a tax collector. Johnson says while senior citizens do end up losing the most money to scammers, college and high school students are targeted more frequently then seniors.
“A lot of this starts as high schoolers start beginning to apply for scholarships, they’re applying to colleges,” says Johnson, “all of the sudden their personal information is out there.”
Johnson also says that employment scams are a very common way scammers can get your information. She warns to be wary of jobs that have very general descriptions, have high paying salaries with few hours or jobs that say they are going to pay you but you have to send money back. Johnson says if you are emailing for a job you want to apply to and you’re asked for specific personal information but only receive vague information you should avoid further contact.
Something a student might not think of is keeping their information safe from roommates. Johnson says to keep all of your important personal documents in a locked box if possible and be aware of what you share.
Johnson asks that anyone who has been scammed to report the scam to bbb.org/scamtracker so others will not fall victim to the scam.