Digital Dangers: How College Students Become Easy Targets for Scammers

Think you're too tech-savvy to fall for a scam? Think again. Young adults between 20-29 are now losing money to fraud more frequently than seniors—a startling reversal of what many assume about scam victims. As students flood back to campuses nationwide, they're walking into a minefield of sophisticated schemes designed specifically to exploit their unique vulnerabilities.

In this eye-opening episode of 2 Cents, we dive deep into the alarming world of student-targeted scams. From fake housing listings that leave incoming freshmen homeless (and broke) to employment scams stealing identities from job-hunting students, the threats are both diverse and devastating. We explore how oversharing on social media creates perfect reconnaissance for scammers, why that too-good-to-be-true apartment near campus probably doesn't exist, and how public WiFi networks can become hunting grounds for digital predators "sniffing your packets."

The conversation covers particularly insidious threats like scholarship scams that steal both dreams and data, aggressive credit card marketing that saddles students with "the most expensive free t-shirt ever," and blackmail attempts that can derail promising careers before they begin. Most disturbing is the recent FTC shutdown of a student loan relief scam that extracted over $23 million from already debt-burdened graduates. Through practical examples and actionable advice, we equip students (and those who care about them) with the knowledge to recognize and avoid these financial pitfalls.

Whether you're a student heading to campus, a parent sending your child to college, or an educator working with young adults, this episode provides essential information for navigating the complex landscape of financial security in academic environments. Share this episode with the students in your life—knowledge remains the most powerful defense against those looking to exploit youthful inexperience.

Resources:
Back-to-School Cybersecurity: K-12 

Credits:
An AmeriServ Financial, Inc. Production 
Music by SchneckMind
Hosted by Drew Thomas and Jeffrey Matevish

Thanks for listening! You can find out more about AmeriServ by visiting ameriserv.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

DISCLAIMER
This podcast focuses on having valuable conversations on various topics related to banking and financial health. The podcast is grounded in having open conversations with professionals and experts, with the goal of helping to take some of the mystery out of financial and related topics; as learning about financial products and services can help you make more informed financial decisions. Please keep in mind that the information contained within this podcast, and any resources available for download from our website or other resources relating to Bank Chats is not intended, and should not be understood or interpreted to be, financial advice. The hosts, guests, and production staff of Bank Chats expressly recommend that you seek advice from a trusted financial professional before making financial decisions. The hosts of Bank Chats are not attorneys, accountants, or financial advisors, and the program is simply intended as one source of information. The podcast is not a substitute for a financial professional who is aware of the facts and circumstances of your individual situation. AmeriServ Presents: Bank Chats is produced and distributed by AmeriServ Financial, Incorporated.

Chapters

• 0:22 Welcome to Two Cents
• 0:55 College Student Scams Overview
• 2:16 Social Media and Housing Scams
• 8:31 Employment and Scholarship Scams
• 11:52 Credit Cards and Student Loan Scams
• 15:21 Public Wi-Fi and Blackmail Dangers
• 22:49 Closing Disclaimer

Transcript

Jeff Matevish: 0:22

Okay well, good morning Drew.

Drew Thomas: 0:24

Good morning or afternoon or evening, depending on where you happen to be or when you happen to be listening to this. You're right, you're right, you're right.

Jeff Matevish: 0:30

Welcome to Two Cents, a shorter version of Bank Chats, where we just kind of talk about current events, things that interest us, that we found in the news and anything else like that.

Drew Thomas: 0:41

That's really what it comes down to, is things that interest us, yeah, and we hope somebody else finds them interesting as well, right, yeah?

Jeff Matevish: 0:55

So today we're going to talk about some scams that target college students and K through 12, since school is now back in session for pretty much everyone, in the United States at least.

Drew Thomas: 1:01

Yeah, I mean, these years go by really quick, I'll tell you. It seems like just yesterday was like either 4th of July or even Memorial Day, and now, all of a sudden, we're right back into the swing of things.

Jeff Matevish: 1:13

Yeah, once once April hits, pretty much the rest of the year flies, at least for us.

Drew Thomas: 1:17

Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent, so, yeah, so, so you're right. I mean, kids are back in school, and not only younger kids through high school, but obviously, like you said, college students starting back, some people starting college for the first time, right, so, so, yeah, so, let's talk. So you, you, you brought up a good and this was totally on you that you, you kind of brought up this idea of you. Know, we talk about scams for people in general all the time, but there are seriously things that college students specifically should be looking out for, right.

Jeff Matevish: 1:50

Well, yeah, I mean so we've brought up in the past that you know, we kind of scams towards seniors. We kind of highlight. Actually, in 2024, the FTC reported that individuals from 20 to 29 lost money to fraud and scams more frequently than those age 70 to 79. Wow, so, yeah, we don't highlight that enough. But you know, college age students are getting scammed more than ever, I guess.

Drew Thomas: 2:15

Yeah, I think that we tend to assume and maybe this is an assumption born out of technology 10 years ago, maybe this is an assumption born out of technology 10 years ago we tend to assume that elder scams are more common because the older people don't understand technology. But what we tend to forget is that younger people haven't been exposed to the world as much as the older people and maybe are a little more naive and they're online more often, so there's more of a chance of being scammed.

Drew Thomas: 2:43

Yeah, that's also a very good point. Um, you know, sometimes older people are not always uh quick on the draw when it comes to adopting new technology and and younger people definitely are, you know. So, um, so, what are some of the things that that uh college students should be looking out for? Let's let's kind of start going down a list of uh things and kind of kind of talk through them here.

Jeff Matevish: 3:01

Well, like everyone else, texting and phishing scams are huge in college too. The website that I was looking at gave a really good example. Especially now, right at the end of vacation season into the start of school, be careful what you put on social media. On social media, if you post pictures of your vacation, you know that's a red flag for a scammer to call you up and say, hey, you know, you were in the Virgin Isles recently. Did you, you know, make a credit card transaction? And of course, you're going to say, yes, I did, you know, because they know that you were just there and that opens up a, you know, a can of worms to the scmer now getting your information from you.

Drew Thomas: 3:46

You know, it's really funny that you say that, because I grew up in an era where people didn't have cell phones. When I was growing up, you still had to talk on the phone in the kitchen to your friends and stuff, you know. But answering machines became a thing, right? I mean, people didn't have answering machines prior to like 1980, you know, and uh. So as answering machines became more popular, you found that, uh, people were putting stuff on their answering machines, their outgoing message saying hey, we're going to be in wherever, we're going to be on vacation, whatever.

Drew Thomas: 4:18

And then people were breaking into people's houses because they knew they weren't home, right, right. So the idea of not sharing too much personal information, I think, goes back farther than what we tend to think. You know, you're going back 40 years now of telling people hey, listen, don't, don't tell people that you're on vacation. And yet now, with social media, it's even more prevalent because people want to show that stuff like right away, right, right, right, right, yeah, yeah, um, don't, don't do that, yeah, um, okay, so so, yeah, that's a good point.

Jeff Matevish: 4:49

So what next? Okay, just to continue on that one. Oh yeah, more the. These scams are getting more, um, complex too. It's not usually just a one-person scam anymore, um, so after they've made contact with you and and asked for your information, um, they'll typically pass you off to another scammer, Um they'll put it on a YouTube video in the background that makes it sound like they're in a, a big call center. You know a lot of devotion, um, uh, pass you on to someone else, put you on hold, um just make it look like it's a. It's a big company and, you know, not, not really it's. You know, just one person, two people.

Drew Thomas: 5:26

That's crazy, I would imagine. I mean, I, you know, thinking like a scammer. You could even call somebody up and say, hey, you forgot your uh. We think that you may have forgotten some personal items in your hotel room. Can you give me your uh, can you verify your driver card number or something for me so I can prove that the wallet we found in your room is yours? And if you're not holding your wallet right at that moment or something, you very well might say oh my gosh. Yeah, let me go ahead and give you some information. Just yeah, you got to be so careful about what you give out. Don't give out any of that stuff.

Jeff Matevish: 5:59

Another one I mean not so much right now on an issue, because everybody's back to school, but searching for off-campus housing can be an issue If a deal is too good to be true or the landlord is asking for payments through, maybe, cash app or a peer-to-peer payment app. Be a little cautious of that.

Drew Thomas: 6:21

Yeah, it amazes me, the older, older I get, how often your grandmother's sage advice still applies. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Jeff Matevish: 6:32

Most certainly, and in today, I know, with the prices of everything, everybody's looking for a deal, so people are falling for it more often than they ever have.

Drew Thomas: 6:41

Yeah, and from what I was reading along those lines, with that kind of scam, you know, sometimes these apartments and places don't even exist. You know they're they're. You know people are looking for apartments, houses, things like that, sometimes from out of state, sometimes even out of the country. If they're going to a school, you know, say they're from France and they're coming to a school in the U? S and they're looking for a place to live. And then you, these apartments and things online and they don't exist. But they happen to be near a popular college, a big college or something People sign up, send down payments to oh you have to send me a down payment for the first month's rent, and so they send this money ahead and then they end up in the country and go into the school and they find out that that apartment just doesn't exist. So, yeah, you, and then they end up in the country and go into the school and they find out that that apartment just doesn't exist, right?

Jeff Matevish: 7:25

So yeah, you got to be so careful. Do your due diligence. Yeah, Look. Do research online. Use Google Maps. Look at the address. Yeah, make sure the address is a quickie mart, right, you know, google Street View is a good thing yeah.

Drew Thomas: 7:38

Yeah, I mean, that's 100 percent, 100%. With today's world, with Google Maps, like you said, you can check and make sure that an address at least looks like a residential property, if nothing else. Right, you know, and speaking from experience, you know, when my stepdaughter went to college, the college itself tends to know where the housing is right. So, you know, call the college office, the housing office, whatever, and just say, hey, listen, you know, I'm looking at a house or an apartment or something at this address. Is that, is that a legit place? You know it. Chances are somebody at the school probably knows that that location, if it's a legitimate place for students to rent, right, right, yeah, the other one that I that I came across was was actually employment scams. The other one that I came across was actually employment scams.

Drew Thomas: 8:31

According to the ITRC, scammers may try to steal identities from unsuspecting students through enticing job offers. Criminals may prey upon a student's money, personal information, even physical safety. So, yeah, I mean, you know college students looking for a side gig, something to earn some money while they're in college. And again, you know they're they're. You know you're giving out all this information thinking you're getting a job, uh, when in reality you're, you know they're just collecting data on you and then using it to, to, to wipe you out or or get you to send the money or or steal your identity and go open a loan somewhere. I mean, it's not always stealing money from you that can damage you. It can be just stealing your personal information. That's true. Yeah, you know, and most college students in my opinion, you know, in my experience, they're not looking at their credit report every day. They don't know that somebody's opened up a loan in their name until it's too late.

Jeff Matevish: 9:16

Right, right. I mean, and you know, if this job opportunity is not even something you applied for, you know, be very cautious of that. You know.

Drew Thomas: 9:24

Yeah, that's along the same lines as those lotteries. If you didn't enter a lottery, you didn't win. You know Right right.

Jeff Matevish: 9:38

Yeah, that's always one. Another one was be cautious when applying for scholarships. I didn't even think about this one, yeah, so you're given a lot of information up front when you're applying for scholarships. Make sure it's a credible scholarship, a credible business that's offering it, and if not, if you have doubts, go to your financial aid office and see if they've heard of this scholarship before or just you know. Go through your financial aid office for scholarships in general. Sure.

Drew Thomas: 10:04

Yeah, and there are definitely legitimate websites out there where you can search for scholarships, find out whether or not a business is really offering it that sort of thing. Sometimes you can, like you said, find out through the financial aid office at your college who might be offering scholarships. But yeah, you know college students they're. You know college. We've talked about this. We talked about this on a couple of different episodes, including with George Camel whenever he was on the show about how you know how expensive college is getting, and so you know students are looking for any way they can to help pay off loans or handle their day-to-day needs financially being able to just be able to buy pizza and things like that. So you're right. I mean, if you see a scholarship out there financial aid you're giving a ton of information to them and you want to make sure that you're actually applying for something that's legit.

Jeff Matevish: 10:58

Yeah, and, along those same lines, be cautious when you're opening your credit card. Again, you're giving a lot of information up front and you know it may be a fictitious company trying to give you a credit card option.

Drew Thomas: 11:11

Yeah, and you know what that's I mean. That brings up a point which, again, I think we've there's a fly in here.

Jeff Matevish: 11:21

Welcome to our guest.

Drew Thomas: 11:26

The credit card thing. We've talked about before too, I think, when we talked about credit cards versus loans and things like that but it bears repeating that, especially if you're a college student, and I know when I went to college, they would roll out the red carpet for college students to sign up for credit cards, and they were. I always joke, it was the most expensive free t-shirt I ever had, because you know you get a free t-shirt if you sign up for a credit card and you don't realize what you're doing. You know you're signing up for a card that has, you know, 25% interest and you're buying your Saturday night pizza and beverage of choice we'll put it that way, um, and you think, oh, this is just free money and it's so, not yeah. So, um, definitely be aware of that.

Drew Thomas: 12:12

You know, um, go to your parents. Go to the bank that you've grown up, going to, that your parents go to whatever. See if they can help you with a credit card option. Um, see if you can help you with a credit card option. See if you can find something that offers low interest or something specifically designed for students. Don't just randomly grab a credit card if somebody walks up to you on the college quad and says, hey, you want to sign up for a credit card. Beware, beware.

Jeff Matevish: 12:36

That's what my parents did whenever I was in college. My first credit card was for a local bank that I could pay it in person. So they you know in my credit card statement would come to their house. So they knew whenever I had a bill due and they would remind me hey, you got a bill here, you have to come home and pay that, you know.

Drew Thomas: 12:54

Yeah, and my guess is it probably had a relatively low credit line too. Yeah, yeah, so you know you didn't end up with a $20,000 credit line and rack up a ridiculous bill. Like you know, a lot of those um, entry level or college uh cards you know, sort of cap you out at maybe, you know, probably these days around 2000 to $5,000, maybe something like that, which is still a significant amount of money.

Jeff Matevish: 13:16

Right, or they're secured against another bank account or something like that. Something like that, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Drew Thomas: 13:22

So this is maybe one that I came across that is maybe more for students that are sort of getting close to graduation. Ok, but they talk about student loan debt relief scams. Oh yeah, so these are offers that help to pay down your student loans. The Federal Trade Commission recently announced that they shut down a scam that took students for over $23 million. Wow, and you know, a lot of times the bait on the hook is, hey, send me X number of dollars, right, and you know, we'll as a, as a, as an application fee, and then we'll start you in the process of helping to find ways to pay down your student debt with less interest or more, less time or whatever. And it's, it's a, it's a total scam.

Drew Thomas: 14:15

It's a scam every day. Yeah, um, so you know, while there are ways out there to try to do that, make sure again you're going through legitimate sources to try to find them, whether it's your trusted bank, your school. If your parents are aware of what's going on and are financially savvy and can help you, definitely go to somebody you trust to help find these things. Don't pick one out randomly on the web and send your information in an application fee.

Jeff Matevish: 14:46

There's a commercial about it that probably don't have your best interest in mind.

Drew Thomas: 14:51

Probably not, you know, because, honestly, those commercials cost money to air and you've got to wonder whether your application fee is going to air that commercial so that they can take on more people with their application fees. And yeah, it's. It's. It's sad, but it's true. We live in this society where you have to just be so cautious about just being smart about what you sign up for and what you get involved in. You know for sure, yeah, you got any.

Jeff Matevish: 15:15

What else do you have on your list? Last one for college was just being cautious about using public Wi-Fi. Now that we live in a world of Internet, public Wi-Fi is accessible in most places. You go to McDonald's and you can get on their Wi-Fi. Not always the best thing to do. Hackers conceal your information. Use VPNs if you can, if you have one, or just don't use your phone as a hotspot. Maybe, but try not hopping on that public Wi-Fi unless you really have to.

Drew Thomas: 15:46

Yeah, there's a term out there that people, I think, get a little bit. It's called a man-in-the-middle attack and a lot of people don't quite always gather what that means. But essentially it means that on any public wifi, um, anybody can be on that same network and if you are on the same network as somebody else, that person can theoretically see everything that's passing from your device to the network. Um, it's, it's really no different than when you share your printer with your home computer, right, you're on the same network, they can talk to one another. Yeah, the data can be passed from one device to the next. So on public Wi-Fi, it's not so much that it's the business that is nefarious. You know, mcdonald's, to your point, is not necessarily stealing your data, right?

Jeff Matevish: 16:37

But that guy sitting in the corner and his computer is sniffing your packets on your, on your connection, yeah, sniffing my packets.

Drew Thomas: 16:44

It's ridiculous I'm gonna stiff my packets, sorry sorry okay, no, but you're right, yeah.

Jeff Matevish: 16:54

Yeah, it's um explain what that is before we end up in like trouble with somebody so when you're connected to the internet, you are sending and receiving data packets and all Explain what that is before we end up in trouble with somebody. So when you're connected to the internet, you are sending and receiving data packets and all they're doing is stealing those packets. Yeah, that data that's unencrypted. So if you use a VPN or something that encrypts that data, it's a little harder for them to get access to your information. Yeah, yeah. And also, you know, make sure that the, if you're going to connect to a public wifi, make sure that it is the correct public wifi. Yeah, excellent point, can set up any any you know on the on the fly wifi connection that you connect to, and then they have instant access to everything. Sure, yeah.

Drew Thomas: 17:37

Yeah, that's definitely something you got to be aware of, with not even just restaurants things, but even hotels. Yeah, that's definitely something you got to be aware of, with not even just restaurants things, but even hotels. Yeah, it's so easy with so many people staying in a hotel, right, all somebody has to do is book a room and set up an open, unpassworded wifi that says the hotel name, underscore a or one, or something like that or, or, or, or or guest even. And most people when they look for things like that they're going to, they're going to see, oh, it says you know, hilton guest, I'm going to go ahead and agree to it and connect to it, and they think they're connecting to something legitimate when they're absolutely not.

Drew Thomas: 18:18

Yeah, so, especially with things like hotels normally hotels they are there is a. Even if you get free Wi-Fi with your with your booking, typically you still have a gate you have to go through. You have to enter, say, your last name and your room number or something like that when you're joining a hotel Wi-Fi to prove that you're a legitimate guest, right, but in a reverse way, it also helps to protect you, to give you that feeling of, hey, I'm not just joining some random open Wi-Fi. I'm, you know I'm giving. There's something I have to do to gain access to that Wi-Fi.

Jeff Matevish: 18:57

It's a more secure network. Yeah.

Drew Thomas: 18:58

Yeah, yeah, the um, uh, the other thing that that I came across, uh and this is really sad, but it's very true Um, essentially blackmail. You've got to be careful when it comes to being in college and with cell phones and smartphones and cameras and everything you know, for better or worse. You can argue either way, anything that you do in this world could be filmed, and if you do something that you wouldn't want your parents to see, or you wouldn't want your family to see, or you wouldn't want your friends to see, you can't guarantee that they won't see it. And there are scams out there where they will send a college student a video of them doing something that they wouldn't want to be made public and say if you don't pay me money, I'm going to release this. It's straight up blackmail.

Jeff Matevish: 19:56

And it could be something that was on your phone to begin with. So that was another one Don't live on your phone, don't live on your device, you know. Don't. Don't keep, as you know, your entire life's worth of information on one device. Yes, if that gets hacked and yeah, your life is leaked.

Drew Thomas: 20:11

Yeah, yeah and and really I mean we've you know, I mean speaking from experience. There are definitely things that I did when I was younger that I am really happy. I lived in an era where it wasn't easy to film things like that, and we have seen politicians and actors and actresses and things get get caught in things that they did 30 or 40 years ago. Right that suddenly they're getting canceled in the media and all this kind of stuff. But you don't want to be. You don't want to be put in a position where, as a college student that's maybe getting ready to graduate, you're out there looking for a job. As a college student that's maybe getting ready to graduate, you're out there looking for a job and now all of a sudden somebody is threatening to put something online somewhere that can damage your reputation or give you a make it more difficult for you to, to, to achieve your goals.

Jeff Matevish: 20:55

Yeah, Along those same lines too. Anything that was on the internet is always going to be on the internet. So if you have stuff on your social media that you don't want your employer seeing, you know that's a problem? Yeah, so don't post things that you don't, you don't want your employer to know.

Drew Thomas: 21:13

Yeah, and you're absolutely right. And and if you don't think employers look at that stuff, think again. Oh yeah, you know, when you put resumes out there, one of the first things that a lot of uh HR comp, uh HR departments and management team members and things will do is go check out your, your linkedin, you know.

Jeff Matevish: 21:31

Um, that's yep I just saw your name pop up. You know, whenever we were, you know you first contacted me.

Drew Thomas: 21:38

Yeah, you know, you know, um, now you know, hopefully, uh, those employers are not looking at your personal stuff, right, right, hopefully they're just looking at your professional social pages and things like that, but you don't know that they're not, right, right, so, honestly, it's just one of those things again. Just if it's not out there, it doesn't matter what they look at, right? So only share what you, what you really think you might want seen, right, and just be aware that. You know, in college and places like that, you're not always thinking about the fact that you could be getting filmed and then potentially somebody coming after you. So keep those things in mind too. Yeah, so congratulations on going to college. Now we've scared the life out of you Life out of you.

Drew Thomas: 22:20

Yeah, and if you're a parent or a grandparent and you're listening to this or watching this, share some of this information with your college students, with your high school students, with your grandkids that are just out of college. It's definitely good information for anybody to know and if they're not listening to it or watching it themselves, then maybe we can share it via you as their trusted parent or grandparent or teacher or whoever.

Jeff Matevish: 22:49

Yeah, you know so, and we have a lot more information on K through 12 on our website too, so make sure you check that out.

Drew Thomas: 22:55

Yeah, yeah, link in the bio, link in the bio, link in the bio or link in the comments, depending on what you're watching this on or listening to this on. There's a link somewhere. Yeah, just we'll make sure it's out there. Yep, um, cool, all right, hey, happy school year, happy school year.

Jeff Matevish: 23:11

Yeah, all right, bye, joe. This podcast focuses on having valuable conversations on various topics related to banking and financial health. The podcast is grounded in having open conversations with professionals and experts, with the goal of helping to take some of the mystery out of financial and related topics, as learning about financial products and services can help you make more informed financial decisions. Please keep in mind that the information contained within this podcast and any resources available for download from our website or other resources relating to Bank Chats is not intended and should not be understood or interpreted to be financial advice. The hosts, guests and production staff of Bank Chats expressly recommend that you seek advice from a trusted financial professional before making financial decisions.

Jeff Matevish: 23:59

The hosts of Bank Chats are not attorneys, accountants or financial advisors, and the program is simply intended as one source of information. The podcast is not a substitute for a financial professional who is aware of the facts and circumstances of your individual situation. Thank you for listening. Please check out our full library of episodes, which can be found on the Ameriservecom website. You can also download or stream the podcast from your favorite podcast app.