Whether it's shopping for dorm room supplies or finishing up summer reading, America's college students are ready to return to campus. 

But there's a dark side to the back-to-school season: Online scammers targeting students who need scholarship money or paid internships to help afford tuition.

According to the FBI's Internet Crime Report, Americans 20-29 years old reported losing more than $500 million to internet scams last year. 

That includes countless parents and students who lost money or personal data to increasingly common - and sophisticated - college-related scams. 

Earlier this year, the FTC stopped a massive student loan scam orchestrated by Natalie Rodriguez and Pablo Ortiz. 

Their company pretended to be affiliated with the US Department of Education, promising student loan debt relief in exchange for paying fees as high as $1,400 per month.

The scam ran from February 2022 through April 2026, and stole a whopping $8.8 million from unsuspecting borrowers. 

And although this scam was stopped, there are plenty more looking to defraud distracted students.

Shlomi Beer, CEO of fraud protection company ImpersonAlly, told the Daily Mail that he's seeing a dangerous shift in the education space, and warned that scammers aren't just trying to steal a quick $500 deposit anymore.

Instead, they are creating fake online portals and scholarship applications designed to gather personal information and banking credentials. 

'They then store this data to launch long-term identity theft,' he said. 

As technology improves, fraudsters can now register domain names that look nearly identical to official portals - minus the official .edu domain. 

'In many cases, the first interaction is just reconnaissance,' Beer said. 'A student fills out what looks like a legitimate scholarship or university form and weeks later receives a highly personalized message about tuition, financial aid or enrollment.'

'Because the attacker already knows their details, the second scam is much harder to spot,' he added.

As a result, students should also be careful when searching for university support, financial aid or scholarship information online. Scammers can create websites and ads that look like real institutions and trap people at exactly the moment they are looking for help.

CIO at University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St Louis, Zach Lewis, warned that AI tools also make it easy for criminals to create polished, professional-looking messages that mimic the tone and branding of a university. 

'Bad grammar is no longer a reliable way to spot scams,' Lewis told the Daily Mail, adding that the safest approach is always double checking tuition, scholarship or financial aid issues on the university's official website.

And this school year, scams are extending beyond the scholarship search. 

According to the US Department of Education, student scrambling for off campus housing can sometimes fall for fake apartment listings. 

Fraudsters can create fake properties, or even hijack real rental listings but change the contact details and repost them to a different rental site. 

Even if their low costs are enticing, potential renters typically can't physically visit these units. 

By using high-pressure tactics, unsuspecting students then share their personal information on an application or even send an initial payment.

Separately, sometimes students will receive an automated text messages claiming they owe additional tuition or fees to their college or university. Sometimes there's even a warning that they will miss a financial aid deadline. There will typically be a link, prompting students to enter their personal information. 

Tomas Sinicki, managing director at scam protection service Coveron, warns students not to fall for it - and recommends never paying an upfront fee for help with federal student loans.

Personal data, he said, should only be sent through official .gov websites and to be sure nothing is going on behind the scenes, he suggests checking your credit report regularly.

'Scammers thrive in the confusion surrounding financial aid deadlines,' Sinicki told the Daily Mail. 'By impersonating government officials, they don't just steal money - they hijack the financial futures of students who are already under immense pressure.'

Perhaps the most common scams are fake scholarships that appear online as an advertisement or via email. 

These scams lure students in with the promise of tuition relief - only to leave them short hundreds if not thousands of dollars. 

'I’ve been scammed multiple times by these fake scholarships I have to pay monthly,' one Facebook user wrote, claiming they attempted to submit applications on websites like Niche and Fastweb.

Niche told the Daily Mail that they 'never' charge students to apply to scholarships 'and we never will.'

'In general, students should always verify that a scholarship is free to apply for,' a spokesperson said. 'Check that the organization publishes past winners, read the privacy policy before sharing personal information, and be skeptical of any scholarship that contacts them by text or social media.'

There are also a few prevention practices in the works at the Department of Education. 

The Office of Inspector General said they regularly work with student aid to help them quickly identify, prevent and report fraud. This is a requirement predominately in place to protect students and their families.

'We also work with our Federal, state and local law enforcement and prosecutive partners to build awareness of, investigate, and prosecute student aid fraud perpetrators,' an Office of Inspector General spokesperson told the Daily Mail.

And if you were a victim of a scam, Chase Bank encourages students to stop all contact with the scammer and save any relevant information, like emails, text messages, screenshots and phone numbers.

The next step should be contacting your bank using the number on the back of your debit or credit card. They also suggest reporting the incident to local law enforcement and the FTC.

'Remain on high alert for follow-up scams,' Chase told the Daily Mail. 'Scammers often target previous victims with offers to recover lost money or resolve the issue for a fee, which is often another scam.'