Back-to-school scams you should be aware of from the BBB
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – Something you may not have thought of while doing your back-to-school shopping this year is getting scammed. Back-to-school scams are on the rise, according to the Better Business Bureau.
Representatives from the Better Business Bureau say they see an increase in scams as kids go back to school. Specifically in college aged students between the ages of 18-24.
Sydney Waters is the Regional Director of the Better Business Bureau. She says the younger age group of college students often think they aren’t a target but that isn’t the case.
She shares how college students can protect themselves this school year.
“It’s a very good idea to go get a private mailbox,” said Waters. “Whether that be a PO Box or send those confidential documents back to your home address and pick them up later.”
According to Waters, college students starting out with a clean slate of credit or who are unknown to the dangers of scam attempts are perfect targets for scams and identity theft. She says college students should never leave important information laying around a dorm room or a shared house.
“So get a lock box,” she said. “put those documents in there. Keep your IDs in there. Anything that can compromise your identity, keep it locked up.”
Waters says if you lose your student or personal ID it should be reported to campus police right away.
Another school related scam that seems to be growing Waters says is sports link scams. Many schools offer a way to watch your child play school sports from home through an online link. Scammers are now sending out these links requesting you input your card information to pay money to view the video. Waters says not to fall victim to this.
“These sports links, it’s generally a very small amount of money,” said Waters. “We actually had a report from a local man this last year and he put one dollar in to watch a high school streaming event.”
Waters says afterwards the man was bombarded with emails and calls and notifications that he had signed up for expensive monthly subscriptions. Waters says to play it safe and always check with the school before opening links you’re unsure of.
Check with the Better Business Bureau website if you are unsure something is scam.
