One of the most prolific and financially damaging types of phishing emails students have to deal with relate to financial aid. Attackers will impersonate the college financial aid office and steal student credentials. They then can log in and change information in a student’s account, like direct deposit information, causing student financial aid payments, especially those from the government, to be directed to an account other than the student’s.
The college must send out notices to students when aid amounts change or information needs updated, but how do you tell if that email from “Financial Aid” is real?
Below you can see three different types of emails the Berry College Financial Aid office sends out. There are two things to notice about these emails.
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- None of them contain a link to log into the financial aid portal
- None of them have an attachment
If you receive an email with either a link or an attachment, it more than likely did NOT come from the financial aid office. Please report it using the “Report Email As Phishing” button.
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