Foreign students in UK Private Schools Under Siege from Cyber Scammers
Parents of international students attending private schools in the UK are being targeted by sophisticated cyber scammers who aim to intercept their fee payments. The scams often begin with a hack that compromises the email addresses of parents, allowing scammers to send fake emails purporting to come from school bursars.
These phishing attempts typically appear at specific times of year when term fees are due, such as in March and September. Scammers may offer discounts of up to 25% to lure victims into paying early, using tactics commonly employed across various types of scams.
The scam usually involves emails that ask parents to transfer money to a different account than the one they normally use for payments. This ploy takes advantage of schools' multiple communication channels, including email, WhatsApp groups, and telephone calls, as well as their varied methods of payment, such as wire transfers, cheques, cash, debit cards, and credit cards.
Victims can lose significant amounts, with an average loss of £3,200. However, some families have been duped into sending money worth over three times this amount.
Simon Freeman, managing director at Iris Education, a software company that conducted the research, attributes the vulnerability to schools' reliance on traditional processes. "Many schools are doing everything right with established procedures, but these very processes have become the vulnerabilities that criminals are trained to exploit," he notes.
The stakes can be particularly high for international students and their families who may not speak English fluently, making them more susceptible to these scams. It is estimated that all 100 schools surveyed had been targeted by at least one cyber-attack per year, with some experiencing multiple attempts over the past five years.
To avoid falling prey to these scams, parents are urged to remain vigilant for unusual messages or those that create a sense of urgency around payment deadlines. They should also verify requests through official channels rather than responding to suspicious emails or phone calls.
Parents of international students attending private schools in the UK are being targeted by sophisticated cyber scammers who aim to intercept their fee payments. The scams often begin with a hack that compromises the email addresses of parents, allowing scammers to send fake emails purporting to come from school bursars.
These phishing attempts typically appear at specific times of year when term fees are due, such as in March and September. Scammers may offer discounts of up to 25% to lure victims into paying early, using tactics commonly employed across various types of scams.
The scam usually involves emails that ask parents to transfer money to a different account than the one they normally use for payments. This ploy takes advantage of schools' multiple communication channels, including email, WhatsApp groups, and telephone calls, as well as their varied methods of payment, such as wire transfers, cheques, cash, debit cards, and credit cards.
Victims can lose significant amounts, with an average loss of £3,200. However, some families have been duped into sending money worth over three times this amount.
Simon Freeman, managing director at Iris Education, a software company that conducted the research, attributes the vulnerability to schools' reliance on traditional processes. "Many schools are doing everything right with established procedures, but these very processes have become the vulnerabilities that criminals are trained to exploit," he notes.
The stakes can be particularly high for international students and their families who may not speak English fluently, making them more susceptible to these scams. It is estimated that all 100 schools surveyed had been targeted by at least one cyber-attack per year, with some experiencing multiple attempts over the past five years.
To avoid falling prey to these scams, parents are urged to remain vigilant for unusual messages or those that create a sense of urgency around payment deadlines. They should also verify requests through official channels rather than responding to suspicious emails or phone calls.
. It's just not right that some cyber scammers are taking advantage of them, especially when they don't even speak English fluently. I mean, can you imagine if this happened to you or your kid? It's like, the scammers are preying on people who are already vulnerable and trusting.
. Like, come on guys, get with the times! Use secure payment systems and two-factor authentication or something. It's not that hard.
. They should totally verify any requests through official channels and not respond to suspicious emails or calls. Let's look out for each other, especially the international students who are already feeling lost in a new country 
.
OMG, this is wild! I just heard from a friend whose kid goes to an international school in London and they were literally about to send £10k to "the school" thinking it was the official bank account 
. And now I'm hearing that all these schools are getting hacked left and right... 100% of them get targeted per year?! 
That's insane! The scammers are basically using the schools' own systems against them by exploiting their traditional processes 
. International students and their families are especially vulnerable because they might not speak English fluently... it's like, how do you even protect yourself from this?! 
I'm just saying, be super careful with your emails and payments, people! 
oh man I just got scammed on my online shopping 
and it was so frustrating 
i had to spend like an hour trying to get in touch with the seller and they kept putting me on hold 
anyway back to this article... cyber scams are super common now isn't it? 
i mean i know some people who got scammed before and it's just so not cool 
what can schools really do to prevent these things from happening tho? like can't they just use more secure systems or something? 
and I realized how easily scammed we can get online these days... I mean, who hasn't gotten an email that looks super legit but then you're like "wait a minute, why did they need me to pay in cash?" Anyway, back to cyber scams... 25% discount? Sounds too good to be true. And what's with all the different channels for payment? It's like they want us to click on every link and make a transfer. 
. btw, did u no that there's over 100 schools in the uk who've been targeted by cyber attacks last year alone? 
. stay vigilant, fam! 
Those cyber scammers are like, super sneaky and can really cause a lot of financial stress on top of already being in a new country and navigating everything. It's crazy that schools' traditional processes can be exploited like this, it just goes to show how much we need to modernize and implement more secure systems 
, you know? Like, they're relying on traditional processes, but these scammers are just experts at exploiting weaknesses. I'm all for being vigilant and stuff, but come on, it's just not fair to these poor families who are already stressed out trying to navigate the whole education system 
. It's like, super easy to fall for it, but with a bit of knowledge and caution, you can avoid getting duped