By Thompho Mmbi
At the beginning of the year, every student or ex-matriculates gets happy about going to universities or colleges. Even when others are accepted to enrol in some universities, many fail to get spaces to study. It is during registration time that scammers start to target the ones who didn’t get space, even the ones who got the space.
As everyone in South Africa does know the number of online institutions is growing rapidly. Some of the students who fail to get space at university or college can still have hope that
something can change and be accepted to study in university, this leads them to be the main targets of scammers, they can receive emails, text messages, and even calls from scammers promising them admission into the university in exchange of money.
Due to the happiness of getting anopportunity to enrol in university, they do not investigate, they just look for money and pay the one who is promising them the space. Indeed it is a bad thing to be scammed, but it is also bad not to conduct investigations about things that you are not sure about.
Some students end up registering in online institutions or colleges that are not registered or known by the Department of Education. They end up paying too much money, and after paying the huge amount of money they will learn that the institution never exists.
Even the students who got admissionto the registered institutions get scammed. Many South African institutions are complaining about this matter. It seems like scammers nowadays are educated, they can hack the system of institutions and send emails to admitted students,and they can even hack every student’s emails.
Universities and SAPS’s responsesabout this matter.
Some South African universities if not all, warned their students, including first-year students to be aware of scammers on their social media or through phone calls, text messages, and emails. The following are emails from some of the universities:
“Please be aware of fraudulent requests on social media from third parties posing as UJ representatives and asking for payment, particularly during registration. Take note we will never ask you for payment out of the registration portal found on U-link, or through direct deposit,” said UJ.
“The university has recently announced the opening of the first late application
window. This period usually attracts a variety of scam artists who prey on
desperate potential students by promising a university or residence space in
return for cash. Scammers may also try to solicit your details to hack your
bank accounts.
A swith any scam, if it seems too good to be true it usually is, and we urge those
in our community to protect vulnerable individuals who are desperate to study
at CPUT.
The university works closely with SAPS to investigate allegations of fraud, and our
internal systems are nearly impossible to bypass. Please report any suspicious activities to your nearest Campus Protection office,” said CPUT.
The University of Kwazulu-Natal came to know about some unknown people who claim to belong to the EFF SC, who have invited students to campus to help them with
late applications and walk-in registrations. It shows that scammers are becoming more and more intelligent.
Scammers mostly target those students who are far away from home, and who know no one in the place they have moved to. Some of the times they can start acting as
friends or a person who wants to help, it is more important for a student to be aware of the scammers’ moves.
“Police are pleading with parents and guardians not to deposit any cash into anyone’s
bank account before they have seen the available accommodation. This is to avoid being scammed as cases of defrauded parents were registered in previous years,” said Free State Police spokesperson Mahlomola Kareli.
Typesof scams you can come across as a student.
Some scammers will send you emails, saying that they are a company which is offering you a bursary, you will be knowing that you didn’t apply, but as you know, everyone loves money, and you will even forget the fact that you didn’t apply for a bursary, after that they will claim to have lost your banking details and ask you to send them again.
As we know that students who are in their final year stress a lot about their academics.
Scammers can come and act as a support system, at first you would swear that they are good people, and they will offer you mental support, after that, they will start telling you about their financial difficulties and ask if you can help, and they will pay you when they get money, and that is how you will get scammed. You can get these kinds of scammers in school, online, and even on the way.
These kinds of scammers are very much careful, they know who to target. They are careful about who to choose. They target vulnerable people, people who are away from their support system, who are stressed out, and people whose friends are also stressed. Be careful of whom you befriend, especially online.
Many students come from poor backgrounds, they do not receive money from their parents or relatives, and for them to survive they must look for a part-time job that can help them to survive because NSFAS money is not enough for them.
They would always look for the advert that can help them to get a job, sometimes they can find them and draft their CV and a motivational letter. It can happen for them to be liked by an employer; the problem starts when an employer needs upfront payment for them to start work. If it happens like that, they will want you to pay more
even in the future. Do not pay to get a job.
Be careful of sccamers everywhere you go.