Oliver: College students face more scams than in the past; here’s how to stay safe

When contemplating how much the world has changed, I only have to look at my college days.

To say it was a simpler time would be an understatement. The number of things that college students must worry about today would have made my head spin in the late 1980s.

For instance, identity theft wasn’t a thing. Or if it was, it wasn’t the billion-dollar industry it is now.

Social Security numbers weren’t considered something that needed to be kept in Fort Knox the way they are today. They even were used openly. Today, that would be a recipe for disaster.

I’ve been thinking about all this again since I came across an item about the different scams that college students need to be aware of as they return to their campuses.

That goes along with the usual financial advice to beware of taking on too much debt as you try to establish a credit history. That lesson I had to learn the hard way, having gotten a little too free with my spending when I went on an internship during my junior year of college.

It was only when my dear husband, Tony, and I were contemplating marriage that we came up with a plan to erase my debt and tackle his so that we’d go into our marriage with no debt at all. I’ll be forever grateful to him for that, because we’ve remained debt-free since.

These days, in addition to the credit scams that we’ve all been warned about, college students also have to be on the lookout for fake listings for apartments, used books, movers and other services. They probably will receive scam solicitations for student loan debt relief.

If that weren’t enough, college students these days may get unsolicited offers for scholarships and grants that are fake. And they’re at risk for the social media scams we all need to watch out for.

What makes all of this so disgusting is that scammers like to prey on those who don’t have a lot of experience, or who are the most vulnerable. That’s also why they like to go after our senior citizens.

Still, there are ways college students can protect themselves. Of course, these are good tips for all of us, because who hasn’t had a scammer try to separate us from our hard-earned cash?

Merrill offers these tips to help students stay ahead of scams:

- Students should watch what they post online, especially personally identifiable information. This would include an address or a phone number.

- Monitor the privacy settings on all online accounts.

- Verify any unsolicited phone calls or emails. If you want more information, find another means of contacting the person or organization. Try a website or find the official phone number.

- Avoid sharing information with people you don’t know, particularly if the initial contact was unsolicited.

- Trust your instincts. If something sounds or looks too good to be true, it probably is.

- Remember that anyone can be a target for a scam. Some criminals use personally identifiable information to forge fake identities so they can use them to commit other crimes.

The key is to be very careful about what you share. These days it’s not even safe to take those online quizzes that seem to be everywhere on social media. Some of them are meant to gather information about the quiz takers that can be used to forge an identity or provide clues to one’s passwords.

No doubt parents are going to have to make a point to teach their children about how to spot scams and avoid identity theft even before their kids are ready to go off to college.

Another related topic would be to teach kids what to do if their personal information does get out despite their best efforts. That’s a reality for a lot of us adults, too. Knowing how to monitor one’s credit will add another tool to their financial education toolbox.

Of course, that’s in addition to the usual safety lessons of “situational awareness” that are good practice for all of us wherever we are.

The more things change, some things do remain the same. The bad guys have just gotten a lot more sophisticated.

• Joan Oliver is the former Northwest Herald assistant news editor. She has been associated with the Northwest Herald since 1990. She can be reached at jolivercolumn@gmail.com.