Scholarship Fee and Fake Portal Scam by email

How it looks by email, the red flags and what to do.

An email gives the scammer room to look official: a signature, a fake invoice, an attachment and a button that goes to a lookalike login page. Scholarship Fee and Fake Portal Scam is one of the ways this shows up: Students and parents get messages about a big scholarship that needs a processing fee or bank details. The portal is fake and the money is gone.

What scholarship fee and fake portal scam looks like by email

• A login page that opens from the email and asks for your password and OTP.
• A sender address that is almost, but not exactly, the real domain.
• A button that says "Verify account" or "View invoice".

The scammer buys lists of student contacts or scrapes names from public results and social posts. The message uses the name of a government scheme, a foundation or a big company's programme. It congratulates the student and gives a link and a reference number. Some come as emails with a certificate attached. All say the grant will be sent to the bank account after verification.

Red flags to check on the email

• A scholarship arrives that you never applied for.
• A processing or verification fee is demanded.
• The portal asks for Aadhaar and bank details at once.
• A caller wants an OTP to credit the amount.
• The tone is urgent and the grammar is slightly off.
• Hover over the link: the address does not match the company website.

What to do

1. Do not pay or upload documents on the portal.
2. Ask the school or college office whether the scholarship is real.
3. Find scholarship information on the official government portal typed by hand.
4. Report it as phishing in your email app and delete it.
5. If you typed a password on the page, change it at once and turn on two-step verification.
6. Do not open the attachment and do not press the button.

Use Report phishing in your email app. If money or accounts are affected, call 1930 and report at cybercrime.gov.in.

If money or a code is already gone

1. Call 1930 if any money was taken, giving the payee details.
2. Tell your bank through the number on your card if you shared bank details or an OTP.
3. File a complaint on cybercrime.gov.in with the message and portal address.
4. Keep watch for loans or accounts opened with the student's documents.

National Cyber Crime Helpline: 1930; report at cybercrime.gov.in.

Safeavio Sentinel's scam check lets a parent or student paste the message and shows signals such as a prize never applied for, a fee to receive money and an OTP request. The link check helps you look at the portal address before opening it. A parent can set up the family so children get help from someone they trust. It cannot confirm whether a scholarship is real, so ask the school.

Full guide: Scholarship Fee and Fake Portal Scam: how it works, signs and what to do. Other channels: SMS, WhatsApp.

Questions