A scam on Facebook is targeting students who attend local community colleges.
Students at Sampson Community College received notification earlier this week from the Financial Aid Office informing them not to fall victim to a scam circulating through social media.
According to Marleen Powell, director of financial aid for the college, the scam is surfacing through Facebook regarding some of the North Carolina community colleges offering student loan forgiveness. The notification appears to be sent from the Federal Loan Services and does look “official.”
“This is a scam and is not official,” Powell shared in her notice to the students. “There are no North Carolina community colleges that are affiliated with a loan forgiveness program. If you see this, please do not provide them with any personal information regarding your loan accounts, Social Security number, address, etc.”
While Powell did not report any students from Sampson having received the notification, she said she had been made aware that students from James Sprunt Community College in Kenansville and Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington may have been contacted and were mentioned on the list of schools that is circulating Facebook.
A Facebook post on a page titled “Salliemaenavient Updates” showed a copy of a notification claiming that James Sprunt Community College has given “APPROVAL for COMPLETE FORGIVENESS to ALL FORMER STUDENTS.”
Cheryl Hemric, director of marketing and public information for JSCC, said the page is fraudulent and a hoax.
“There is a scam on Facebook about student loan forgiveness,” Hemric said. “There is no community college in North Carolina affiliated with any loan forgiveness programs in which students have to pay money to have loans forgiven. There are ads on Facebook promoting James Sprunt, and a few other schools, as offering a program that will give former students loan forgiveness. It is a scam and we are working with Facebook to have the ads removed and the accounts suspended.”
As for what students can do to protect themselves, Hemric said they, along with former students and alumni, should contact the financial aid office of the college they attended if they have questions, and they should be wary of any ads promoting loan forgiveness. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.”
