MODESTO, Calif. -- With the stress of college already too much for many teens and parents, there is a new danger to worry about -- scholarship scams preying on the naive and needy.
Dozens of Central Valley teens are being promised big money for college, but there's a catch. The teens have to be willing to give up some of their personal information.
Johansen High School seniors Leah Gordin, Mia Johnson and Carrie Ross have big plans to attend a prestigious university. Tuition fees are the only things holding them back. Just recently, each of them received a call they thought would solve their money worries.
"He was like, 'Do you need help with college?' And, 'I have an $8,000 scholarship for you. We are going to put it directly in your account. All we need is your account number,'" Johnson said.
Johnson said she thought that it was unusual that the man claiming to be with a scholarship company knew her name, middle initial and her bank.
"I was like, wow! That is kind of shifty," Johnson said.
"I just hung up on him. I didn't let him finish," Ross said.
Johnson and Ross both said they realized it was a scam after being asked to pay a $200 processing fee.
Classmate Leah Gordin wasn't so lucky.
"He said he was from the Government Grant Association. And he was like, 'We are calling to offer you a $5,000 scholarship.' And he knew all of my info. I assumed he got it from my school counselor," Gordin said.
With dreams to go to New York University School of Medicine, Gordin regrets what she did next.
"He is like, 'Well, do you have a bank account?' And he said, 'We can send you the money straight to your account. All we need is your account number.' I was like, 'OK,'" Gordin said.
After realizing it was a scam, Gordin's family took quick action.
"We got a little bit scared. So, we went to the bank and closed the account (and) started a new one," Gordin said.
School counselor Lisa Lodi said that scholarship scammers have hit up more than a dozen Johansen High School students in recent days.
"If you have to pay money to get money, it is probably not on the up and up," Lodi said.
School officials aren't sure where the scammers are getting the personal information.
"They have their date of birth in one case. They had the last four digits of their Social Security number. That is not going to be from the yearbook," Lodi said.
An official at the Federal Trade Commission said students should be suspicious of any company that asks for payment up front. The FTC said you shouldn't have to pay money to save money.
Another red flag is if scholarships or financial aid are promised, because no one can truthfully make that kind of guarantee, according to the FTC.
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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