Phishers prey on students waiting for loans and grants

Students are the current target for online criminals trying to con them into handing over their account details.

Directgov said it had received reports that students are getting phishing emails claiming to be sent from Student Finance England.

The students are asked to click on a link in the emails asking them to fill in a form to verify their account details in order to get their next payment. The form looks very official but Directgov warned that no government department sends unsolicited emails or asks for personal information such as log in details or bank account information this way.

By way of advice it said students should beware of tell tale signs such as poor grammar, misspelling and poor punctuation. Students who receive one of these emails should not click on the links, but forward the email to the following email address: mailto@phishing@slc.co.uk.