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212-349-6460
Phony Scholarship Services
With the cost of tuition rising, the search for scholarships is increasingly important to students and parents. So it's no surprise that Web sites and emails offering services guaranteed to get students more scholarship money than they could get on their own remain a troublesome scam.
Instead of providing money to students, the crooks on the other end of many of these ads are stealing students' money, tricking them into paying for nonexistent (or useless) services. Often they will charge a fee to "find scholarships" for you, but never deliver what was promised or provide you information you could have easily found for free. Others might say you've qualified for a scholarship or particularly low-interest loan, but require you to pay an upfront fee in order to receive it.
In reality, the best places get accurate information on grants and scholarships may well be your high school guidance counselor or college financial aid officers. Beyond that, there are some legitimate scholarship services out there, but they can't guarantee you a scholarship.