Scams on the Rise as Pause in Student Loan Payments Set to Expire
As the pause in federal student loan payments sets to expire in May, 2022, scammers are swooping in via social media, text messages and phone calls with promises to reduce payments or even cancel student debt entirely.
Landwebs
As the pause in federal student loan payments sets to expire in May, 2022, scammers are swooping in via social media, text messages and phone calls with promises to reduce payments or even cancel student debt entirely.
Experts say the con artists have flourished due to a lack of clear information from student loan servicers, reports NPR. The Federal Trade Commission warned last winter bout an increase in student loan scams that prey on that confusion with overly-convincing narratives that often sound like they’re coming directly from the government.
“When people can’t get clear information that they need from their student loan servicers, they can become more susceptible to scammers,” said Andrea Matthews at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Emmy Ross, a student with debt just like millions of Americans, and her mother, Jing Su, were being targeted by the scammers to the point where the pair were getting persistent phone calls about Ross’s debt.
See Also: Cyber Fraudsters Target QR Codes To Steal Personal and Financial Info
The scripts the scammers use are increasingly more sophisticated and convincing. One of the scripts obtained by NPR says: “Hi, this is Shay with SLA Servicing. We’re in the process of pre-enrollment for all loan forgiveness. It’s going to be a bit more challenging as deadlines come….”
Other calls obtained by NPR even sound like they’re coming directly from the government. Like this one that says: “This message is from the Department of Education. All programs for student loan forgiveness will be stopped immediately. In order for you to qualify, you must apply within the next 24 hours…”
Su would try to get her daughter to call them back, but Ross was persistent that it must’ve been a scam.
Thankfully, the callers didn’t get any information or payment details out of the family, but not everyone has been so lucky, NPR details.
Scams also rely on a certain degree of embarrassment and shame from their victims so they don’t report it when it happens, experts detail.
Meanwhile, the mere idea of debt forgiveness is making a lot of people hopeful enough to return a scammer’s phone call, with about 45 million people have outstanding student loans, totaling more than $1.5 trillion.
Additional Reading: Phone Scammers Use ‘Mind-Control Tactics’ to Deceive Victims
