Phishing Attack Affects College Financial Aid

A recent phishing attack has centered around college financial aid departments.

Alberto Betancourt, Press Officer for the US Department of Education in Washington, D.C., tells WZFG News that the Federal Student Aid (FSA) office recently informed the financial aid community that FSA had identified a malicious phishing campaign that may lead to potential fraud associated with student refunds and aid distributions.

According to the Department of Education, students at “multiple colleges” are the target of these type of scams. An email, posing to be from the student’s college or university’s financial aid department, contains a link to what appears to be the “billing” portal of the institution.

Clicking the link takes users to something that looks like the school’s portal—but it isn’t.

Users who input their username and password on these imposter sites are providing the scammers with their login information. This allows the scammers to access the real website, where they change the direct deposit information to their own.

Betancourt says that the issue is a cyber security matter, and no further information is available regarding The situation.