Leaving home to go to university is an exciting and life-changing moment for many young people. But it could be a time of peril too as criminal fraudsters are ready to prey on students who might not be financially savvy.
In some of the worst-case scenarios students can be duped into laundering money, which could leave them with a criminal record.
The Cumberland Building Society says there are sensible steps all students can take to avoid falling victim.
Martin Rickerby, the Society’s financial crime manager, identifies accommodation fraud as one of the biggest risks to them.
He says: “This is where criminals advertise fake accommodation, demanding payment up front to secure it.
“We’ve seen cases where students have been pressured into making deposits for accommodation that doesn’t exist.
“It’s particularly prevalent around clearing when students have managed to secure a university place somewhere they hadn’t necessarily anticipated, and are desperate to find somewhere to live.”
He advises students to view the accommodation in person and make sure they know who they are dealing with before parting with any money.
Ideally, use a letting agent signed up to a professional body and be wary of accommodation advertised at a very low rent.
If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Never pay for accommodation using a third-party service which involves the transferring of cash directly to a person, because current account providers cannot recover the payment if it turns out to be fraudulent.
Another hazard, Martin warns, is for students looking for extra income to be roped in as money mules to clean the proceeds of crime. This occurs when illegally sourced money is placed through multiple bank accounts to make it appear genuine and for it to be harder to track back to its origins.
They could be asked to make deposits into their current account in exchange for a commission or payment.
He says: “In some cases, the student wouldn’t realise they were money laundering or the wider impact it could have on them should they be caught.”
Money laundering is a criminal offence that could land a student in jail.
A student at Stirling University was jailed for 18 months in 2023 after she laundered nearly £85,000 for a criminal gang in Glasgow.
Adverts with terms such as ‘work from home’, ‘no experience necessary’, ‘make £300 a week’ or ‘must have own UK bank account’ could be recruitment teasers for money launderers.
Do your research on any such adverts. You can search for the phone number online to see whether any other people have had good or bad experiences. Likewise, do your research on the company name and website. Are there any reviews, comments or feedback?
Martin’s final tip is to stay vigilant, especially when socialising. Pickpockets and thieves often take advantage of drunk students enjoying freshers’ week.
They might befriend them, walk with them to an ATM and watch while the student keys in their PIN. They make a move to steal the debit card later.
Martin adds: “Make sure there is no one suspicious watching at an ATM – we call this shoulder surfing – and make sure you keep your PIN safe.”
For further hints and tips on avoiding fraud, please visit our website:
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