Students: 78% of scams hit in the first three months at university

New students face scams within weeks of arriving on campus, so the first check to make is simple: before paying a deposit, taking a job, or signing up for a policy, stop and verify it independently rather than trusting the listing or message in front of you. According to Independent Digital News and Media, research from NatWest, Mastercard and the Home Office found that 78% of students who encountered a scam said it happened in their first three months on campus.

The same research found university students are nearly twice as likely to encounter a scam as people outside higher education: 69% of students reported encountering one, against 36% of the wider population. The three groups have launched a joint campaign, Stop! Think Fraud, urging students to pause and check before acting.

What the timing shows

The scam risk is concentrated at exactly the point a student has the least experience managing money alone. Fraudsters are not spreading their attempts evenly across a degree; they are aiming at the first term, when a new bank balance, a new city, and the pressure to find a flat or a job all land at once. That timing is the actual target, not just a detail.

Where the scams show up

Rental scams ask for a deposit upfront on a property advertised through a fake listing. Ghost broking scams sell motor insurance that looks artificially cheap because the policy details have been altered; a victim may not discover the policy is invalid until they try to claim on it. Money mule scams offer "easy cash" for moving money through a student's bank account, but the funds are proceeds of crime, and the student risks a criminal record for passing them through. Job scams ask for payment upfront for work that does not exist. Online marketplace listings and cryptocurrency investment pitches round out the list.

What to do now

Before paying a deposit for a room, speak to the landlord or agency through a contact verified independently of the listing, not just the number or email given in the ad. Before accepting a job that asks for any payment upfront, treat that as the warning sign itself; legitimate employers do not charge new hires to start. Before moving money for someone else in exchange for a cut, stop: that is the shape of a money mule scam, and the student who moves it is the one who ends up with a record, not the fraudster.

Lord Hanson, the fraud minister, said fraudsters "continue to prey on freshers, using bogus job adverts, fake flats and scam investments to steal their money," and urged every student to Stop! Think Fraud. James Holian of NatWest Group said many scams "begin on social media" and that pausing before acting "can make a real difference." Simon Forbes of Mastercard UK & Ireland said fraudsters are "constantly evolving their tactics."

The research surveyed 1,000 people. For anyone starting university this term, the useful habit is not vigilance in general but one specific pause: before any payment to a new landlord, employer or investment contact, check it through a channel the student found themselves, not one handed to them in the message.