September 9, 2025 • 24 mins
Think you're too tech-savvy to fall for a scam? Think again. Young adults between 20-29 are now losing money to fraud more frequently than seniors—a startling reversal of what many assume about scam victims. As students flood back to campuses nationwide, they're walking into a minefield of sophisticated schemes designed specifically to exploit their unique vulnerabilities.
In this eye-opening episode of 2 Cents, we dive deep into the alarming world of student-targeted scams. From fake housing listings that leave incoming freshmen homeless (and broke) to employment scams stealing identities from job-hunting students, the threats are both diverse and devastating. We explore how oversharing on social media creates perfect reconnaissance for scammers, why that too-good-to-be-true apartment near campus probably doesn't exist, and how public WiFi networks can become hunting grounds for digital predators "sniffing your packets."
The conversation covers particularly insidious threats like scholarship scams that steal both dreams and data, aggressive credit card marketing that saddles students with "the most expensive free t-shirt ever," and blackmail attempts that can derail promising careers before they begin. Most disturbing is the recent FTC shutdown of a student loan relief scam that extracted over $23 million from already debt-burdened graduates. Through practical examples and actionable advice, we equip students (and those who care about them) with the knowledge to recognize and avoid these financial pitfalls.
Whether you're a student heading to campus, a parent sending your child to college, or an educator working with young adults, this episode provides essential information for navigating the complex landscape of financial security in academic environments. Share this episode with the students in your life—knowledge remains the most powerful defense against those looking to exploit youthful inexperience.
Resources:
Back-to-School Cybersecurity: K-12
Credits:
An AmeriServ Financial, Inc. Production
Music by SchneckMind
Hosted by Drew Thomas and Jeffrey Matevish
Thanks for listening! You can find out more about AmeriServ by visiting ameriserv.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
DISCLAIMER
This podcast focuses on having valuable conversations on various topics related to banking and financial health. The podcast is grounded in having open conversations with professionals and experts, with the goal of helping to take some of the mystery out of financial and related topics; as learning about financial products and services can help you make more informed financial decisions. Please keep in mind that the information contained within this podcast, and any resources available for download from our website or other resources relating to Bank Chats is not intended, and should not be understood or interpreted to be, financial advice. The hosts, guests, and production staff of Bank Chats expressly recommend that you seek advice from a trusted financial professional before making financial decisions. The hosts of Bank Chats are not attorneys, accountants, or financial advisors, and the program is simply intended as one source of information. The podcast is not a substitute for a financial professional who is aware of the facts and circumstances of your individual situation. AmeriServ Presents: Bank Chats is produced and distributed by AmeriServ Financial, Incorporated.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jeff Matevish (00:22):
Okay well, good morning Drew.
Drew Thomas (00:24):
Good morning or afternoon or evening, depending
on where you happen to be orwhen you happen to be listening
to this.
You're right, you're right,you're right.
Jeff Matevish (00:30):
Welcome to Two Cents, a shorter version of Bank
Chats, where we just kind oftalk about current events,
things that interest us, that wefound in the news and anything
else like that.
Drew Thomas (00:41):
That's really what it comes down to, is things that
interest us, yeah, and we hopesomebody else finds them
interesting as well, right, yeah?
Jeff Matevish (00:55):
So today we're going to talk about some scams
that target college students andK through 12, since school is
now back in session for prettymuch everyone, in the United
States at least.
Drew Thomas (01:01):
Yeah, I mean, these years go by really quick, I'll
tell you.
It seems like just yesterdaywas like either 4th of July or
even Memorial Day, and now, allof a sudden, we're right back
into the swing of things.
Jeff Matevish (01:13):
Yeah, once once April hits, pretty much the rest
of the year flies, at least forus.
Drew Thomas (01:17):
Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent, so, yeah, so,
so you're right.
I mean, kids are back in school, and not only younger kids
through high school, butobviously, like you said,
college students starting back,some people starting college for
the first time, right, so, so,yeah, so, let's talk.
So you, you, you brought up agood and this was totally on you
(01:39):
that you, you kind of broughtup this idea of you.
Know, we talk about scams forpeople in general all the time,
but there are seriously thingsthat college students
specifically should be lookingout for, right.
Jeff Matevish (01:50):
Well, yeah, I mean so we've brought up in the
past that you know, we kind ofscams towards seniors.
We kind of highlight.
Actually, in 2024, the FTCreported that individuals from
20 to 29 lost money to fraud andscams more frequently than
those age 70 to 79.
Wow, so, yeah, we don'thighlight that enough.
(02:11):
But you know, college agestudents are getting scammed
more than ever, I guess.
Drew Thomas (02:15):
Yeah, I think that we tend to assume and maybe this
is an assumption born out oftechnology 10 years ago, maybe
this is an assumption born outof technology 10 years ago we
tend to assume that elder scamsare more common because the
older people don't understandtechnology.
But what we tend to forget isthat younger people haven't been
exposed to the world as much asthe older people and maybe are
(02:36):
a little more naive and they'reonline more often, so there's
more of a chance of beingscammed.
Yeah, that's also a very goodpoint.
Um, you know, sometimes olderpeople are not always uh quick
on the draw when it comes toadopting new technology and and
younger people definitely are,you know.
So, um, so, what are some ofthe things that that uh college
students should be looking outfor?
(02:57):
Let's let's kind of start goingdown a list of uh things and
kind of kind of talk throughthem here.
Jeff Matevish (03:01):
Well, like everyone else, texting and
phishing scams are huge incollege too.
The website that I was lookingat gave a really good example.
Especially now, right at theend of vacation season into the
start of school, be careful whatyou put on social media.
On social media, if you postpictures of your vacation, you
(03:27):
know that's a red flag for ascammer to call you up and say,
hey, you know, you were in theVirgin Isles recently.
Did you, you know, make acredit card transaction?
And of course, you're going tosay, yes, I did, you know,
because they know that you werejust there and that opens up a,
you know, a can of worms to thescmer now getting your
information from you.
Drew Thomas (03:46):
You know, it's really funny that you say that,
because I grew up in an erawhere people didn't have cell
phones.
When I was growing up, youstill had to talk on the phone
in the kitchen to your friendsand stuff, you know.
But answering machines became athing, right?
I mean, people didn't haveanswering machines prior to like
1980, you know, and uh.
(04:08):
So as answering machines becamemore popular, you found that,
uh, people were putting stuff ontheir answering machines, their
outgoing message saying hey,we're going to be in wherever,
we're going to be on vacation,whatever.
And then people were breakinginto people's houses because
they knew they weren't home,right, right.
So the idea of not sharing toomuch personal information, I
think, goes back farther thanwhat we tend to think.
(04:30):
You know, you're going back 40years now of telling people hey,
listen, don't, don't tellpeople that you're on vacation.
And yet now, with social media,it's even more prevalent
because people want to show thatstuff like right away, right,
right, right, right, yeah, yeah,um, don't, don't do that, yeah,
um, okay, so so, yeah, that's agood point.
Jeff Matevish (04:49):
So what next?
Okay, just to continue on thatone.
Oh yeah, more the.
These scams are getting more,um, complex too.
It's not usually just aone-person scam anymore, um, so
after they've made contact withyou and and asked for your
information, um, they'lltypically pass you off to
another scammer, Um they'll putit on a YouTube video in the
(05:10):
background that makes it soundlike they're in a, a big call
center.
You know a lot of devotion, um,uh, pass you on to someone else
, put you on hold, um just makeit look like it's a.
It's a big company and, youknow, not, not really it's.
You know, just one person, twopeople.
Drew Thomas (05:26):
That's crazy, I would imagine.
I mean, I, you know, thinkinglike a scammer.
You could even call somebody upand say, hey, you forgot your
uh.
We think that you may haveforgotten some personal items in
your hotel room.
Can you give me your uh, canyou verify your driver card
number or something for me so Ican prove that the wallet we
found in your room is yours?
And if you're not holding yourwallet right at that moment or
(05:47):
something, you very well mightsay oh my gosh.
Yeah, let me go ahead and giveyou some information.
Just yeah, you got to be socareful about what you give out.
Don't give out any of thatstuff.
Jeff Matevish (05:59):
Another one I mean not so much right now on an
issue, because everybody's backto school, but searching for
off-campus housing can be anissue If a deal is too good to
be true or the landlord isasking for payments through,
maybe, cash app or apeer-to-peer payment app.
Be a little cautious of that.
Drew Thomas (06:21):
Yeah, it amazes me, the older, older I get, how
often your grandmother's sageadvice still applies.
If it sounds too good to betrue, it probably is.
Jeff Matevish (06:32):
Most certainly, and in today, I know, with the
prices of everything,everybody's looking for a deal,
so people are falling for itmore often than they ever have.
Drew Thomas (06:41):
Yeah, and from what I was reading along those lines
, with that kind of scam, youknow, sometimes these apartments
and places don't even exist.
You know they're they're.
You know people are looking forapartments, houses, things like
that, sometimes from out ofstate, sometimes even out of the
country.
If they're going to a school,you know, say they're from
France and they're coming to aschool in the U?
S and they're looking for aplace to live.
And then you, these apartmentsand things online and they don't
(07:07):
exist.
But they happen to be near apopular college, a big college
or something People sign up,send down payments to oh you
have to send me a down paymentfor the first month's rent, and
so they send this money aheadand then they end up in the
country and go into the schooland they find out that that
apartment just doesn't exist.
So, yeah, you, and then theyend up in the country and go
into the school and they findout that that apartment just
doesn't exist, right?
Jeff Matevish (07:25):
So yeah, you got to be so careful.
Do your due diligence.
Yeah, Look.
Do research online.
Use Google Maps.
Look at the address.
Yeah, make sure the address isa quickie mart, right, you know,
google Street View is a goodthing yeah.
Drew Thomas (07:38):
Yeah, I mean, that's 100 percent, 100%.
With today's world, with GoogleMaps, like you said, you can
check and make sure that anaddress at least looks like a
residential property, if nothingelse.
Right, you know, and speakingfrom experience, you know, when
(07:59):
my stepdaughter went to college,the college itself tends to
know where the housing is right.
So, you know, call the collegeoffice, the housing office,
whatever, and just say, hey,listen, you know, I'm looking at
a house or an apartment orsomething at this address.
Is that, is that a legit place?
You know it.
Chances are somebody at theschool probably knows that that
location, if it's a legitimateplace for students to rent,
right, right, yeah, the otherone that I that I came across
(08:21):
was was actually employmentscams.
The other one that I cameacross was actually employment
scams.
According to the ITRC, scammersmay try to steal identities from
unsuspecting students throughenticing job offers.
Criminals may prey upon astudent's money, personal
information, even physicalsafety.
So, yeah, I mean, you knowcollege students looking for a
(08:44):
side gig, something to earn somemoney while they're in college.
And again, you know they'rethey're.
You know you're giving out allthis information thinking you're
getting a job, uh, when inreality you're, you know they're
just collecting data on you andthen using it to, to, to wipe
you out or or get you to sendthe money or or steal your
identity and go open a loansomewhere.
I mean, it's not alwaysstealing money from you that can
damage you.
It can be just stealing yourpersonal information.
(09:05):
That's true.
Yeah, you know, and mostcollege students in my opinion,
you know, in my experience,they're not looking at their
credit report every day.
They don't know that somebody'sopened up a loan in their name
until it's too late.
Jeff Matevish (09:16):
Right, right.
I mean, and you know, if thisjob opportunity is not even
something you applied for, youknow, be very cautious of that.
You know.
Drew Thomas (09:24):
Yeah, that's along the same lines as those
lotteries.
If you didn't enter a lottery,you didn't win.
You know Right right.
Jeff Matevish (09:38):
Yeah, that's always one.
Another one was be cautiouswhen applying for scholarships.
I didn't even think about thisone, yeah, so you're given a lot
of information up front whenyou're applying for scholarships
.
Make sure it's a crediblescholarship, a credible business
that's offering it, and if not,if you have doubts, go to your
financial aid office and see ifthey've heard of this
(09:59):
scholarship before or just youknow.
Go through your financial aidoffice for scholarships in
general.
Sure.
Drew Thomas (10:04):
Yeah, and there are definitely legitimate websites
out there where you can searchfor scholarships, find out
whether or not a business isreally offering it that sort of
thing.
Sometimes you can, like yousaid, find out through the
financial aid office at yourcollege who might be offering
scholarships.
But yeah, you know collegestudents they're.
You know college.
We've talked about this.
We talked about this on acouple of different episodes,
(10:26):
including with George Camelwhenever he was on the show
about how you know how expensivecollege is getting, and so you
know students are looking forany way they can to help pay off
loans or handle theirday-to-day needs financially
being able to just be able tobuy pizza and things like that.
(10:46):
So you're right.
I mean, if you see ascholarship out there financial
aid you're giving a ton ofinformation to them and you want
to make sure that you'reactually applying for something
that's legit.
Jeff Matevish (10:58):
Yeah, and, along those same lines, be cautious
when you're opening your creditcard.
Again, you're giving a lot ofinformation up front and you
know it may be a fictitiouscompany trying to give you a
credit card option.
Drew Thomas (11:11):
Yeah, and you know what that's I mean.
That brings up a point which,again, I think we've there's a
fly in here.
Jeff Matevish (11:21):
Welcome to our guest.
Drew Thomas (11:26):
The credit card thing.
We've talked about before too,I think, when we talked about
credit cards versus loans andthings like that but it bears
repeating that, especially ifyou're a college student, and I
know when I went to college,they would roll out the red
carpet for college students tosign up for credit cards, and
they were.
I always joke, it was the mostexpensive free t-shirt I ever
(11:48):
had, because you know you get afree t-shirt if you sign up for
a credit card and you don'trealize what you're doing.
You know you're signing up fora card that has, you know, 25%
interest and you're buying yourSaturday night pizza and
beverage of choice we'll put itthat way, um, and you think, oh,
this is just free money andit's so, not yeah.
(12:09):
So, um, definitely be aware ofthat.
You know, um, go to your parents.
Go to the bank that you'vegrown up, going to, that your
parents go to whatever.
See if they can help you with acredit card option.
Um, see if you can help youwith a credit card option.
See if you can find somethingthat offers low interest or
something specifically designedfor students.
Don't just randomly grab acredit card if somebody walks up
(12:30):
to you on the college quad andsays, hey, you want to sign up
for a credit card.
Beware, beware.
Jeff Matevish (12:36):
That's what my parents did whenever I was in
college.
My first credit card was for alocal bank that I could pay it
in person.
So they you know in my creditcard statement would come to
their house.
So they knew whenever I had abill due and they would remind
me hey, you got a bill here, youhave to come home and pay that,
you know.
Drew Thomas (12:54):
Yeah, and my guess is it probably had a relatively
low credit line too.
Yeah, yeah, so you know youdidn't end up with a $20,000
credit line and rack up aridiculous bill.
Like you know, a lot of thoseum, entry level or college uh
cards you know, sort of cap youout at maybe, you know, probably
these days around 2000 to$5,000, maybe something like
(13:14):
that, which is still asignificant amount of money.
Jeff Matevish (13:16):
Right, or they're secured against another bank
account or something like that.
Something like that, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Drew Thomas (13:22):
So this is maybe one that I came across that is
maybe more for students that aresort of getting close to
graduation.
Ok, but they talk about studentloan debt relief scams.
Oh yeah, so these are offersthat help to pay down your
student loans.
The Federal Trade Commissionrecently announced that they
(13:43):
shut down a scam that tookstudents for over $23 million.
Wow, and you know, a lot oftimes the bait on the hook is,
hey, send me X number of dollars, right, and you know, we'll as
(14:05):
a, as a, as an application fee,and then we'll start you in the
process of helping to find waysto pay down your student debt
with less interest or more, lesstime or whatever.
And it's, it's a, it's a totalscam.
It's a scam every day.
Yeah, um, so you know, whilethere are ways out there to try
to do that, make sure againyou're going through legitimate
sources to try to find them,whether it's your trusted bank,
(14:29):
your school.
If your parents are aware ofwhat's going on and are
financially savvy and can helpyou, definitely go to somebody
you trust to help find thesethings.
Don't pick one out randomly onthe web and send your
information in an applicationfee.
Jeff Matevish (14:46):
There's a commercial about it that
probably don't have your bestinterest in mind.
Drew Thomas (14:51):
Probably not, you know, because, honestly, those
commercials cost money to airand you've got to wonder whether
your application fee is goingto air that commercial so that
they can take on more peoplewith their application fees.
And yeah, it's.
It's.
It's sad, but it's true.
We live in this society whereyou have to just be so cautious
about just being smart aboutwhat you sign up for and what
you get involved in.
(15:11):
You know for sure, yeah, yougot any.
Jeff Matevish (15:15):
What else do you have on your list?
Last one for college was justbeing cautious about using
public Wi-Fi.
Now that we live in a world ofInternet, public Wi-Fi is
accessible in most places.
You go to McDonald's and youcan get on their Wi-Fi.
Not always the best thing to do.
Hackers conceal yourinformation.
(15:35):
Use VPNs if you can, if youhave one, or just don't use your
phone as a hotspot.
Maybe, but try not hopping onthat public Wi-Fi unless you
really have to.
Drew Thomas (15:46):
Yeah, there's a term out there that people, I
think, get a little bit.
It's called a man-in-the-middleattack and a lot of people
don't quite always gather whatthat means.
But essentially it means thaton any public wifi, um, anybody
can be on that same network andif you are on the same network
as somebody else, that personcan theoretically see everything
(16:09):
that's passing from your deviceto the network.
Um, it's, it's really nodifferent than when you share
your printer with your homecomputer, right, you're on the
same network, they can talk toone another.
Yeah, the data can be passedfrom one device to the next.
So on public Wi-Fi, it's not somuch that it's the business
that is nefarious.
(16:30):
You know, mcdonald's, to yourpoint, is not necessarily
stealing your data, right?
Jeff Matevish (16:37):
But that guy sitting in the corner and his
computer is sniffing yourpackets on your, on your
connection, yeah, sniffing mypackets.
Drew Thomas (16:44):
It's ridiculous I'm gonna stiff my packets, sorry
sorry okay, no, but you're right, yeah.
Jeff Matevish (16:54):
Yeah, it's um explain what that is before we
end up in like trouble withsomebody so when you're
connected to the internet, youare sending and receiving data
packets and all Explain whatthat is before we end up in
trouble with somebody.
So when you're connected to theinternet, you are sending and
receiving data packets and allthey're doing is stealing those
packets.
Yeah, that data that'sunencrypted.
So if you use a VPN orsomething that encrypts that
data, it's a little harder forthem to get access to your
(17:16):
information.
Yeah, yeah.
And also, you know, make surethat the, if you're going to
connect to a public wifi, makesure that it is the correct
public wifi.
Yeah, excellent point, can setup any any you know on the on
the fly wifi connection that youconnect to, and then they have
instant access to everything.
Sure, yeah.
Drew Thomas (17:37):
Yeah, that's definitely something you got to
be aware of, with not even justrestaurants things, but even
hotels.
Yeah, that's definitelysomething you got to be aware of
, with not even just restaurantsthings, but even hotels.
Yeah, it's so easy with so manypeople staying in a hotel,
right, all somebody has to do isbook a room and set up an open,
unpassworded wifi that says thehotel name, underscore a or one
(17:59):
, or something like that or, or,or, or or guest even.
And most people when they lookfor things like that they're
going to, they're going to see,oh, it says you know, hilton
guest, I'm going to go ahead andagree to it and connect to it,
and they think they'reconnecting to something
legitimate when they'reabsolutely not.
Yeah, so, especially with thingslike hotels normally hotels
(18:23):
they are there is a.
Even if you get free Wi-Fi withyour with your booking,
typically you still have a gateyou have to go through.
You have to enter, say, yourlast name and your room number
or something like that whenyou're joining a hotel Wi-Fi to
prove that you're a legitimateguest, right, but in a reverse
way, it also helps to protectyou, to give you that feeling of
(18:46):
, hey, I'm not just joining somerandom open Wi-Fi.
I'm, you know I'm giving.
There's something I have to doto gain access to that Wi-Fi.
Jeff Matevish (18:57):
It's a more secure network.
Yeah.
Drew Thomas (18:58):
Yeah, yeah, the um, uh, the other thing that that I
came across, uh and this isreally sad, but it's very true
Um, essentially blackmail.
You've got to be careful whenit comes to being in college and
with cell phones andsmartphones and cameras and
(19:21):
everything you know, for betteror worse.
You can argue either way,anything that you do in this
world could be filmed, and ifyou do something that you
wouldn't want your parents tosee, or you wouldn't want your
family to see, or you wouldn'twant your friends to see, you
can't guarantee that they won'tsee it.
(19:41):
And there are scams out therewhere they will send a college
student a video of them doingsomething that they wouldn't
want to be made public and sayif you don't pay me money, I'm
going to release this.
It's straight up blackmail.
Jeff Matevish (19:56):
And it could be something that was on your phone
to begin with.
So that was another one Don'tlive on your phone, don't live
on your device, you know.
Don't.
Don't keep, as you know, yourentire life's worth of
information on one device.
Yes, if that gets hacked andyeah, your life is leaked.
Drew Thomas (20:11):
Yeah, yeah and and really I mean we've you know, I
mean speaking from experience.
There are definitely thingsthat I did when I was younger
that I am really happy.
I lived in an era where itwasn't easy to film things like
that, and we have seenpoliticians and actors and
actresses and things get getcaught in things that they did
(20:32):
30 or 40 years ago.
Right that suddenly they'regetting canceled in the media
and all this kind of stuff.
But you don't want to be.
You don't want to be put in aposition where, as a college
student that's maybe gettingready to graduate, you're out
there looking for a job.
As a college student that'smaybe getting ready to graduate,
you're out there looking for ajob and now all of a sudden
somebody is threatening to putsomething online somewhere that
(20:53):
can damage your reputation orgive you a make it more
difficult for you to, to, toachieve your goals.
Jeff Matevish (20:55):
Yeah, Along those same lines too.
Anything that was on theinternet is always going to be
on the internet.
So if you have stuff on yoursocial media that you don't want
your employer seeing, you knowthat's a problem?
Yeah, so don't post things thatyou don't, you don't want your
employer to know.
Drew Thomas (21:13):
Yeah, and you're absolutely right.
And and if you don't thinkemployers look at that stuff,
think again.
Oh yeah, you know, when you putresumes out there, one of the
first things that a lot of uh HRcomp, uh HR departments and
management team members andthings will do is go check out
your, your linkedin, you know.
Jeff Matevish (21:31):
Um, that's yep I just saw your name pop up.
You know, whenever we were, youknow you first contacted me.
Drew Thomas (21:38):
Yeah, you know, you know, um, now you know,
hopefully, uh, those employersare not looking at your personal
stuff, right, right, hopefullythey're just looking at your
professional social pages andthings like that, but you don't
know that they're not, right,right, so, honestly, it's just
one of those things again.
Just if it's not out there, itdoesn't matter what they look at
, right?
So only share what you, whatyou really think you might want
(22:01):
seen, right, and just be awarethat.
You know, in college and placeslike that, you're not always
thinking about the fact that youcould be getting filmed and
then potentially somebody comingafter you.
So keep those things in mindtoo.
Yeah, so congratulations ongoing to college.
Now we've scared the life outof you Life out of you.
Yeah, and if you're a parent ora grandparent and you're
(22:24):
listening to this or watchingthis, share some of this
information with your collegestudents, with your high school
students, with your grandkidsthat are just out of college.
It's definitely goodinformation for anybody to know
and if they're not listening toit or watching it themselves,
then maybe we can share it viayou as their trusted parent or
(22:46):
grandparent or teacher orwhoever.
Jeff Matevish (22:49):
Yeah, you know so , and we have a lot more
information on K through 12 onour website too, so make sure
you check that out.
Drew Thomas (22:55):
Yeah, yeah, link in the bio, link in the bio, link
in the bio or link in thecomments, depending on what
you're watching this on orlistening to this on.
There's a link somewhere.
Yeah, just we'll make sure it'sout there.
Yep, um, cool, all right, hey,happy school year, happy school
year.
Jeff Matevish (23:11):
Yeah, all right, bye, joe.
This podcast focuses on havingvaluable conversations on
various topics related tobanking and financial health.
The podcast is grounded inhaving open conversations with
professionals and experts, withthe goal of helping to take some
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(23:32):
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(23:53):
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(24:13):
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Okay well, good morning Drew.
Drew Thomas (00:24):
Good morning or afternoon or evening, depending
on where you happen to be orwhen you happen to be listening
to this.
You're right, you're right,you're right.
Jeff Matevish (00:30):
Welcome to Two Cents, a shorter version of Bank
Chats, where we just kind oftalk about current events,
things that interest us, that wefound in the news and anything
else like that.
Drew Thomas (00:41):
That's really what it comes down to, is things that
interest us, yeah, and we hopesomebody else finds them
interesting as well, right, yeah?
Jeff Matevish (00:55):
So today we're going to talk about some scams
that target college students andK through 12, since school is
now back in session for prettymuch everyone, in the United
States at least.
Drew Thomas (01:01):
Yeah, I mean, these years go by really quick, I'll
tell you.
It seems like just yesterdaywas like either 4th of July or
even Memorial Day, and now, allof a sudden, we're right back
into the swing of things.
Jeff Matevish (01:13):
Yeah, once once April hits, pretty much the rest
of the year flies, at least forus.
Drew Thomas (01:17):
Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent, so, yeah, so,
so you're right.
I mean, kids are back in school, and not only younger kids
through high school, butobviously, like you said,
college students starting back,some people starting college for
the first time, right, so, so,yeah, so, let's talk.
So you, you, you brought up agood and this was totally on you
(01:39):
that you, you kind of broughtup this idea of you.
Know, we talk about scams forpeople in general all the time,
but there are seriously thingsthat college students
specifically should be lookingout for, right.
Jeff Matevish (01:50):
Well, yeah, I mean so we've brought up in the
past that you know, we kind ofscams towards seniors.
We kind of highlight.
Actually, in 2024, the FTCreported that individuals from
20 to 29 lost money to fraud andscams more frequently than
those age 70 to 79.
Wow, so, yeah, we don'thighlight that enough.
(02:11):
But you know, college agestudents are getting scammed
more than ever, I guess.
Drew Thomas (02:15):
Yeah, I think that we tend to assume and maybe this
is an assumption born out oftechnology 10 years ago, maybe
this is an assumption born outof technology 10 years ago we
tend to assume that elder scamsare more common because the
older people don't understandtechnology.
But what we tend to forget isthat younger people haven't been
exposed to the world as much asthe older people and maybe are
(02:36):
a little more naive and they'reonline more often, so there's
more of a chance of beingscammed.
Yeah, that's also a very goodpoint.
Um, you know, sometimes olderpeople are not always uh quick
on the draw when it comes toadopting new technology and and
younger people definitely are,you know.
So, um, so, what are some ofthe things that that uh college
students should be looking outfor?
(02:57):
Let's let's kind of start goingdown a list of uh things and
kind of kind of talk throughthem here.
Jeff Matevish (03:01):
Well, like everyone else, texting and
phishing scams are huge incollege too.
The website that I was lookingat gave a really good example.
Especially now, right at theend of vacation season into the
start of school, be careful whatyou put on social media.
On social media, if you postpictures of your vacation, you
(03:27):
know that's a red flag for ascammer to call you up and say,
hey, you know, you were in theVirgin Isles recently.
Did you, you know, make acredit card transaction?
And of course, you're going tosay, yes, I did, you know,
because they know that you werejust there and that opens up a,
you know, a can of worms to thescmer now getting your
information from you.
Drew Thomas (03:46):
You know, it's really funny that you say that,
because I grew up in an erawhere people didn't have cell
phones.
When I was growing up, youstill had to talk on the phone
in the kitchen to your friendsand stuff, you know.
But answering machines became athing, right?
I mean, people didn't haveanswering machines prior to like
1980, you know, and uh.
(04:08):
So as answering machines becamemore popular, you found that,
uh, people were putting stuff ontheir answering machines, their
outgoing message saying hey,we're going to be in wherever,
we're going to be on vacation,whatever.
And then people were breakinginto people's houses because
they knew they weren't home,right, right.
So the idea of not sharing toomuch personal information, I
think, goes back farther thanwhat we tend to think.
(04:30):
You know, you're going back 40years now of telling people hey,
listen, don't, don't tellpeople that you're on vacation.
And yet now, with social media,it's even more prevalent
because people want to show thatstuff like right away, right,
right, right, right, yeah, yeah,um, don't, don't do that, yeah,
um, okay, so so, yeah, that's agood point.
Jeff Matevish (04:49):
So what next?
Okay, just to continue on thatone.
Oh yeah, more the.
These scams are getting more,um, complex too.
It's not usually just aone-person scam anymore, um, so
after they've made contact withyou and and asked for your
information, um, they'lltypically pass you off to
another scammer, Um they'll putit on a YouTube video in the
(05:10):
background that makes it soundlike they're in a, a big call
center.
You know a lot of devotion, um,uh, pass you on to someone else
, put you on hold, um just makeit look like it's a.
It's a big company and, youknow, not, not really it's.
You know, just one person, twopeople.
Drew Thomas (05:26):
That's crazy, I would imagine.
I mean, I, you know, thinkinglike a scammer.
You could even call somebody upand say, hey, you forgot your
uh.
We think that you may haveforgotten some personal items in
your hotel room.
Can you give me your uh, canyou verify your driver card
number or something for me so Ican prove that the wallet we
found in your room is yours?
And if you're not holding yourwallet right at that moment or
(05:47):
something, you very well mightsay oh my gosh.
Yeah, let me go ahead and giveyou some information.
Just yeah, you got to be socareful about what you give out.
Don't give out any of thatstuff.
Jeff Matevish (05:59):
Another one I mean not so much right now on an
issue, because everybody's backto school, but searching for
off-campus housing can be anissue If a deal is too good to
be true or the landlord isasking for payments through,
maybe, cash app or apeer-to-peer payment app.
Be a little cautious of that.
Drew Thomas (06:21):
Yeah, it amazes me, the older, older I get, how
often your grandmother's sageadvice still applies.
If it sounds too good to betrue, it probably is.
Jeff Matevish (06:32):
Most certainly, and in today, I know, with the
prices of everything,everybody's looking for a deal,
so people are falling for itmore often than they ever have.
Drew Thomas (06:41):
Yeah, and from what I was reading along those lines
, with that kind of scam, youknow, sometimes these apartments
and places don't even exist.
You know they're they're.
You know people are looking forapartments, houses, things like
that, sometimes from out ofstate, sometimes even out of the
country.
If they're going to a school,you know, say they're from
France and they're coming to aschool in the U?
S and they're looking for aplace to live.
And then you, these apartmentsand things online and they don't
(07:07):
exist.
But they happen to be near apopular college, a big college
or something People sign up,send down payments to oh you
have to send me a down paymentfor the first month's rent, and
so they send this money aheadand then they end up in the
country and go into the schooland they find out that that
apartment just doesn't exist.
So, yeah, you, and then theyend up in the country and go
into the school and they findout that that apartment just
doesn't exist, right?
Jeff Matevish (07:25):
So yeah, you got to be so careful.
Do your due diligence.
Yeah, Look.
Do research online.
Use Google Maps.
Look at the address.
Yeah, make sure the address isa quickie mart, right, you know,
google Street View is a goodthing yeah.
Drew Thomas (07:38):
Yeah, I mean, that's 100 percent, 100%.
With today's world, with GoogleMaps, like you said, you can
check and make sure that anaddress at least looks like a
residential property, if nothingelse.
Right, you know, and speakingfrom experience, you know, when
(07:59):
my stepdaughter went to college,the college itself tends to
know where the housing is right.
So, you know, call the collegeoffice, the housing office,
whatever, and just say, hey,listen, you know, I'm looking at
a house or an apartment orsomething at this address.
Is that, is that a legit place?
You know it.
Chances are somebody at theschool probably knows that that
location, if it's a legitimateplace for students to rent,
right, right, yeah, the otherone that I that I came across
(08:21):
was was actually employmentscams.
The other one that I cameacross was actually employment
scams.
According to the ITRC, scammersmay try to steal identities from
unsuspecting students throughenticing job offers.
Criminals may prey upon astudent's money, personal
information, even physicalsafety.
So, yeah, I mean, you knowcollege students looking for a
(08:44):
side gig, something to earn somemoney while they're in college.
And again, you know they'rethey're.
You know you're giving out allthis information thinking you're
getting a job, uh, when inreality you're, you know they're
just collecting data on you andthen using it to, to, to wipe
you out or or get you to sendthe money or or steal your
identity and go open a loansomewhere.
I mean, it's not alwaysstealing money from you that can
damage you.
It can be just stealing yourpersonal information.
(09:05):
That's true.
Yeah, you know, and mostcollege students in my opinion,
you know, in my experience,they're not looking at their
credit report every day.
They don't know that somebody'sopened up a loan in their name
until it's too late.
Jeff Matevish (09:16):
Right, right.
I mean, and you know, if thisjob opportunity is not even
something you applied for, youknow, be very cautious of that.
You know.
Drew Thomas (09:24):
Yeah, that's along the same lines as those
lotteries.
If you didn't enter a lottery,you didn't win.
You know Right right.
Jeff Matevish (09:38):
Yeah, that's always one.
Another one was be cautiouswhen applying for scholarships.
I didn't even think about thisone, yeah, so you're given a lot
of information up front whenyou're applying for scholarships
.
Make sure it's a crediblescholarship, a credible business
that's offering it, and if not,if you have doubts, go to your
financial aid office and see ifthey've heard of this
(09:59):
scholarship before or just youknow.
Go through your financial aidoffice for scholarships in
general.
Sure.
Drew Thomas (10:04):
Yeah, and there are definitely legitimate websites
out there where you can searchfor scholarships, find out
whether or not a business isreally offering it that sort of
thing.
Sometimes you can, like yousaid, find out through the
financial aid office at yourcollege who might be offering
scholarships.
But yeah, you know collegestudents they're.
You know college.
We've talked about this.
We talked about this on acouple of different episodes,
(10:26):
including with George Camelwhenever he was on the show
about how you know how expensivecollege is getting, and so you
know students are looking forany way they can to help pay off
loans or handle theirday-to-day needs financially
being able to just be able tobuy pizza and things like that.
(10:46):
So you're right.
I mean, if you see ascholarship out there financial
aid you're giving a ton ofinformation to them and you want
to make sure that you'reactually applying for something
that's legit.
Jeff Matevish (10:58):
Yeah, and, along those same lines, be cautious
when you're opening your creditcard.
Again, you're giving a lot ofinformation up front and you
know it may be a fictitiouscompany trying to give you a
credit card option.
Drew Thomas (11:11):
Yeah, and you know what that's I mean.
That brings up a point which,again, I think we've there's a
fly in here.
Jeff Matevish (11:21):
Welcome to our guest.
Drew Thomas (11:26):
The credit card thing.
We've talked about before too,I think, when we talked about
credit cards versus loans andthings like that but it bears
repeating that, especially ifyou're a college student, and I
know when I went to college,they would roll out the red
carpet for college students tosign up for credit cards, and
they were.
I always joke, it was the mostexpensive free t-shirt I ever
(11:48):
had, because you know you get afree t-shirt if you sign up for
a credit card and you don'trealize what you're doing.
You know you're signing up fora card that has, you know, 25%
interest and you're buying yourSaturday night pizza and
beverage of choice we'll put itthat way, um, and you think, oh,
this is just free money andit's so, not yeah.
(12:09):
So, um, definitely be aware ofthat.
You know, um, go to your parents.
Go to the bank that you'vegrown up, going to, that your
parents go to whatever.
See if they can help you with acredit card option.
Um, see if you can help youwith a credit card option.
See if you can find somethingthat offers low interest or
something specifically designedfor students.
Don't just randomly grab acredit card if somebody walks up
(12:30):
to you on the college quad andsays, hey, you want to sign up
for a credit card.
Beware, beware.
Jeff Matevish (12:36):
That's what my parents did whenever I was in
college.
My first credit card was for alocal bank that I could pay it
in person.
So they you know in my creditcard statement would come to
their house.
So they knew whenever I had abill due and they would remind
me hey, you got a bill here, youhave to come home and pay that,
you know.
Drew Thomas (12:54):
Yeah, and my guess is it probably had a relatively
low credit line too.
Yeah, yeah, so you know youdidn't end up with a $20,000
credit line and rack up aridiculous bill.
Like you know, a lot of thoseum, entry level or college uh
cards you know, sort of cap youout at maybe, you know, probably
these days around 2000 to$5,000, maybe something like
(13:14):
that, which is still asignificant amount of money.
Jeff Matevish (13:16):
Right, or they're secured against another bank
account or something like that.
Something like that, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Drew Thomas (13:22):
So this is maybe one that I came across that is
maybe more for students that aresort of getting close to
graduation.
Ok, but they talk about studentloan debt relief scams.
Oh yeah, so these are offersthat help to pay down your
student loans.
The Federal Trade Commissionrecently announced that they
(13:43):
shut down a scam that tookstudents for over $23 million.
Wow, and you know, a lot oftimes the bait on the hook is,
hey, send me X number of dollars, right, and you know, we'll as
(14:05):
a, as a, as an application fee,and then we'll start you in the
process of helping to find waysto pay down your student debt
with less interest or more, lesstime or whatever.
And it's, it's a, it's a totalscam.
It's a scam every day.
Yeah, um, so you know, whilethere are ways out there to try
to do that, make sure againyou're going through legitimate
sources to try to find them,whether it's your trusted bank,
(14:29):
your school.
If your parents are aware ofwhat's going on and are
financially savvy and can helpyou, definitely go to somebody
you trust to help find thesethings.
Don't pick one out randomly onthe web and send your
information in an applicationfee.
Jeff Matevish (14:46):
There's a commercial about it that
probably don't have your bestinterest in mind.
Drew Thomas (14:51):
Probably not, you know, because, honestly, those
commercials cost money to airand you've got to wonder whether
your application fee is goingto air that commercial so that
they can take on more peoplewith their application fees.
And yeah, it's.
It's.
It's sad, but it's true.
We live in this society whereyou have to just be so cautious
about just being smart aboutwhat you sign up for and what
you get involved in.
(15:11):
You know for sure, yeah, yougot any.
Jeff Matevish (15:15):
What else do you have on your list?
Last one for college was justbeing cautious about using
public Wi-Fi.
Now that we live in a world ofInternet, public Wi-Fi is
accessible in most places.
You go to McDonald's and youcan get on their Wi-Fi.
Not always the best thing to do.
Hackers conceal yourinformation.
(15:35):
Use VPNs if you can, if youhave one, or just don't use your
phone as a hotspot.
Maybe, but try not hopping onthat public Wi-Fi unless you
really have to.
Drew Thomas (15:46):
Yeah, there's a term out there that people, I
think, get a little bit.
It's called a man-in-the-middleattack and a lot of people
don't quite always gather whatthat means.
But essentially it means thaton any public wifi, um, anybody
can be on that same network andif you are on the same network
as somebody else, that personcan theoretically see everything
(16:09):
that's passing from your deviceto the network.
Um, it's, it's really nodifferent than when you share
your printer with your homecomputer, right, you're on the
same network, they can talk toone another.
Yeah, the data can be passedfrom one device to the next.
So on public Wi-Fi, it's not somuch that it's the business
that is nefarious.
(16:30):
You know, mcdonald's, to yourpoint, is not necessarily
stealing your data, right?
Jeff Matevish (16:37):
But that guy sitting in the corner and his
computer is sniffing yourpackets on your, on your
connection, yeah, sniffing mypackets.
Drew Thomas (16:44):
It's ridiculous I'm gonna stiff my packets, sorry
sorry okay, no, but you're right, yeah.
Jeff Matevish (16:54):
Yeah, it's um explain what that is before we
end up in like trouble withsomebody so when you're
connected to the internet, youare sending and receiving data
packets and all Explain whatthat is before we end up in
trouble with somebody.
So when you're connected to theinternet, you are sending and
receiving data packets and allthey're doing is stealing those
packets.
Yeah, that data that'sunencrypted.
So if you use a VPN orsomething that encrypts that
data, it's a little harder forthem to get access to your
(17:16):
information.
Yeah, yeah.
And also, you know, make surethat the, if you're going to
connect to a public wifi, makesure that it is the correct
public wifi.
Yeah, excellent point, can setup any any you know on the on
the fly wifi connection that youconnect to, and then they have
instant access to everything.
Sure, yeah.
Drew Thomas (17:37):
Yeah, that's definitely something you got to
be aware of, with not even justrestaurants things, but even
hotels.
Yeah, that's definitelysomething you got to be aware of
, with not even just restaurantsthings, but even hotels.
Yeah, it's so easy with so manypeople staying in a hotel,
right, all somebody has to do isbook a room and set up an open,
unpassworded wifi that says thehotel name, underscore a or one
(17:59):
, or something like that or, or,or, or or guest even.
And most people when they lookfor things like that they're
going to, they're going to see,oh, it says you know, hilton
guest, I'm going to go ahead andagree to it and connect to it,
and they think they'reconnecting to something
legitimate when they'reabsolutely not.
Yeah, so, especially with thingslike hotels normally hotels
(18:23):
they are there is a.
Even if you get free Wi-Fi withyour with your booking,
typically you still have a gateyou have to go through.
You have to enter, say, yourlast name and your room number
or something like that whenyou're joining a hotel Wi-Fi to
prove that you're a legitimateguest, right, but in a reverse
way, it also helps to protectyou, to give you that feeling of
(18:46):
, hey, I'm not just joining somerandom open Wi-Fi.
I'm, you know I'm giving.
There's something I have to doto gain access to that Wi-Fi.
Jeff Matevish (18:57):
It's a more secure network.
Yeah.
Drew Thomas (18:58):
Yeah, yeah, the um, uh, the other thing that that I
came across, uh and this isreally sad, but it's very true
Um, essentially blackmail.
You've got to be careful whenit comes to being in college and
with cell phones andsmartphones and cameras and
(19:21):
everything you know, for betteror worse.
You can argue either way,anything that you do in this
world could be filmed, and ifyou do something that you
wouldn't want your parents tosee, or you wouldn't want your
family to see, or you wouldn'twant your friends to see, you
can't guarantee that they won'tsee it.
(19:41):
And there are scams out therewhere they will send a college
student a video of them doingsomething that they wouldn't
want to be made public and sayif you don't pay me money, I'm
going to release this.
It's straight up blackmail.
Jeff Matevish (19:56):
And it could be something that was on your phone
to begin with.
So that was another one Don'tlive on your phone, don't live
on your device, you know.
Don't.
Don't keep, as you know, yourentire life's worth of
information on one device.
Yes, if that gets hacked andyeah, your life is leaked.
Drew Thomas (20:11):
Yeah, yeah and and really I mean we've you know, I
mean speaking from experience.
There are definitely thingsthat I did when I was younger
that I am really happy.
I lived in an era where itwasn't easy to film things like
that, and we have seenpoliticians and actors and
actresses and things get getcaught in things that they did
(20:32):
30 or 40 years ago.
Right that suddenly they'regetting canceled in the media
and all this kind of stuff.
But you don't want to be.
You don't want to be put in aposition where, as a college
student that's maybe gettingready to graduate, you're out
there looking for a job.
As a college student that'smaybe getting ready to graduate,
you're out there looking for ajob and now all of a sudden
somebody is threatening to putsomething online somewhere that
(20:53):
can damage your reputation orgive you a make it more
difficult for you to, to, toachieve your goals.
Jeff Matevish (20:55):
Yeah, Along those same lines too.
Anything that was on theinternet is always going to be
on the internet.
So if you have stuff on yoursocial media that you don't want
your employer seeing, you knowthat's a problem?
Yeah, so don't post things thatyou don't, you don't want your
employer to know.
Drew Thomas (21:13):
Yeah, and you're absolutely right.
And and if you don't thinkemployers look at that stuff,
think again.
Oh yeah, you know, when you putresumes out there, one of the
first things that a lot of uh HRcomp, uh HR departments and
management team members andthings will do is go check out
your, your linkedin, you know.
Jeff Matevish (21:31):
Um, that's yep I just saw your name pop up.
You know, whenever we were, youknow you first contacted me.
Drew Thomas (21:38):
Yeah, you know, you know, um, now you know,
hopefully, uh, those employersare not looking at your personal
stuff, right, right, hopefullythey're just looking at your
professional social pages andthings like that, but you don't
know that they're not, right,right, so, honestly, it's just
one of those things again.
Just if it's not out there, itdoesn't matter what they look at
, right?
So only share what you, whatyou really think you might want
(22:01):
seen, right, and just be awarethat.
You know, in college and placeslike that, you're not always
thinking about the fact that youcould be getting filmed and
then potentially somebody comingafter you.
So keep those things in mindtoo.
Yeah, so congratulations ongoing to college.
Now we've scared the life outof you Life out of you.
Yeah, and if you're a parent ora grandparent and you're
(22:24):
listening to this or watchingthis, share some of this
information with your collegestudents, with your high school
students, with your grandkidsthat are just out of college.
It's definitely goodinformation for anybody to know
and if they're not listening toit or watching it themselves,
then maybe we can share it viayou as their trusted parent or
(22:46):
grandparent or teacher orwhoever.
Jeff Matevish (22:49):
Yeah, you know so , and we have a lot more
information on K through 12 onour website too, so make sure
you check that out.
Drew Thomas (22:55):
Yeah, yeah, link in the bio, link in the bio, link
in the bio or link in thecomments, depending on what
you're watching this on orlistening to this on.
There's a link somewhere.
Yeah, just we'll make sure it'sout there.
Yep, um, cool, all right, hey,happy school year, happy school
year.
Jeff Matevish (23:11):
Yeah, all right, bye, joe.
This podcast focuses on havingvaluable conversations on
various topics related tobanking and financial health.
The podcast is grounded inhaving open conversations with
professionals and experts, withthe goal of helping to take some
of the mystery out of financialand related topics, as learning
(23:32):
about financial products andservices can help you make more
informed financial decisions.
Please keep in mind that theinformation contained within
this podcast and any resourcesavailable for download from our
website or other resourcesrelating to Bank Chats is not
intended and should not beunderstood or interpreted to be
financial advice.
The hosts, guests andproduction staff of Bank Chats
(23:53):
expressly recommend that youseek advice from a trusted
financial professional beforemaking financial decisions.
The hosts of Bank Chats are notattorneys, accountants or
financial advisors, and theprogram is simply intended as
one source of information.
The podcast is not a substitutefor a financial professional
(24:13):
who is aware of the facts andcircumstances of your individual
situation.
Thank you for listening.
Please check out our fulllibrary of episodes, which can
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You can also download or streamthe podcast from your favorite
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