The Department of Education has issued an alert regarding a telemarketing fraud scheme. Persons claiming to be from the Department of Education are calling students and offering them scholarships or grants. These callers request a bank or credit card account number saying the information will be used to charge a $249 processing fee.
The Department of Education is advising students to take the following actions if they have given out their financial information:
1. Immediately contact the bank, explain the situation, and request that the bank monitor or close the compromised account.
2. Notify the police about the incident; impersonating a federal officer, telemarketing fraud schemes, and identity theft are crimes.
3. Report the fraud to the U.S. Department of Education, 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.
4. Contact the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-FTC-HELP or http://www.ftc.gov/scholarshipscams.
For more information, see the Department of Education website at http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/misused/index.html.
By Karen Hubbard
The Department of Education is advising students to take the following actions if they have given out their financial information:
1. Immediately contact the bank, explain the situation, and request that the bank monitor or close the compromised account.
2. Notify the police about the incident; impersonating a federal officer, telemarketing fraud schemes, and identity theft are crimes.
3. Report the fraud to the U.S. Department of Education, 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.
4. Contact the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-FTC-HELP or http://www.ftc.gov/scholarshipscams.
For more information, see the Department of Education website at http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/misused/index.html.
By Karen Hubbard
