Don't be the next victim. Several major campus communities have already fallen victim. Read the U.S. Department of Education warning on phony grants and scholarships scams.

How it works:

"Someone claiming to work at the U.S. Department of Education (ED) is calling students, offering them grants or scholarships, and asking for their bank account numbers so a processing fee can be charged. In other cases the caller tells the student he (or she) understands the student has federal student loans and offers to replace the loans with an $8,000 grants. The callers ask for the student's checking account information so a processing fee can be charged."

Why it's phony:

"There is no ED program to replace loans with grants." There is no processing fee to obtain grants from ED. Also, you should never provide your bank account or credit card information over the phone unless you made the call and trust the company you are calling."

What to do if you are a victim of this or a similar scam:

• Immediately contact your bank, explain the situation, and request that the bank monitor or close the account in questions.

• Report the fraud to ED's Office of Inspector General hotline at 1-800-MIS-USED (1-800-647-8733) or oig.hotline@ed.gov. Special agents in the Office of Inspector General investigate fraud involving federal education dollars.

• Report the fraud to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) using their online complaint form at www.ftc.gov/scholarshipscams or hotline at 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-653-4261). It is important that every student contacted by the person or people in question lodge a complaint so the FTC has an accurate idea of how many incidents have occurred. The FTC will investigate if a lot of people become victims of this crime.

• Tell the Public Safety Office (941-7888) what happened. Impersonating a federal officer is a crime, as is identity theft.

Don't be a Victim:

• Don't pay an application fee for a scholarship.

• Don't trust promises that seem too good to be true.

• Don't give a service or provider financial information to "hold" a scholarship for you.

• Don't believe a scholarship service will do all the work for you. There is no such thing as "easy" scholarship money.

• Don't buy into the claim that "millions of dollars in scholarship funds go unclaimed each year."

• Don't buy into other outrageous claims.

Want Further Information about Preventing Financial Aid Scams? Visit www.studentaid.ed.gov/lsa.