Students who receive maintenance payments are a regular target for impersonation fraud, especially around the start of the academic year. The Student Loans Company (SLC), which runs student finance across the UK, publishes its own guidance on the tactics used and how to respond. This article summarises that guidance. SLC is the parent organisation of Student Finance England, Student Finance Wales and Student Finance Northern Ireland, so the general advice applies across the UK, although one security feature mentioned below is described only for customers in England.
Why the start of term is the peak
SLC’s September 2025 statement said it would pay approximately £2.2 billion in maintenance payments to almost one million students that month, and that scammers are well aware students are about to receive their loan. It said text message fraud was the most popular form of scam at that time, and that over the previous two years it had seen a rise in attempts to defraud students by phone (vishing), text (smishing) and email (phishing). SLC also said it stopped £45.5 million being stolen from students in the previous year. These are SLC’s own figures for that period and are not a count of all student fraud.
The three methods
SLC’s scam guidance defines the three routes fraudsters use to obtain personal details:
- Phishing is done by email and aims to trick the student into giving usernames, passwords or bank details.
- Smishing is the same activity by text message.
- Vishing is done over the phone, with criminals impersonating a person or business.
SLC says the details can then be used to sign in to the student’s online account, steal information and potentially take money.
Warning signs SLC lists
- Bulk, generic greetings. Phishing emails are often sent in bulk, are unlikely to contain both a first and last name, and commonly start “Dear Student”.
- Poor quality. Misspelling, poor punctuation and bad grammar are described as common signs of bogus messages.
- Urgency. Threats such as “failure to respond in 24 hours will result in your account being closed” are described as unlikely to be genuine.
- Links that do not go where they claim. SLC advises hovering over a link to check its destination and, when in doubt, going direct to the source instead of clicking.
What SLC says it will and will not do
SLC’s 2025 statement says it will never ask students to provide personal or financial information by email or text message. Neither SLC nor Student Finance England provides any services through WhatsApp or initiates contact with a student through social media to discuss an application or entitlement. A message on any of those channels claiming to come from student finance is therefore inconsistent with SLC’s stated practice. Where a student is unsure about a communication from Student Finance England, SLC advises logging in to the online account to check whether it is genuine.
The statement also describes a security check for customers in England: SLC sends a text if a change has been made to bank details and asks the customer to confirm it. A customer who has not changed their details but receives such a message should log in to their online account to review their information rather than reply.
Protecting the account and personal information
The guidance includes several practical steps:
- Do not post online that a student finance payment is due soon, since this could make the student a target.
- Avoid logging in to the student finance account on public networks or computers, and use a secure website when entering sensitive information.
- Be careful what is shared on social media. SLC notes that identity theft can use a name, date of birth, customer reference number, course information or addresses to impersonate a person online and by phone.
- If a phone call seems suspicious, do not feel pressured. Call SLC back on a number known to be genuine from its contact page.
Reporting a suspicious message
SLC’s guidance asks students to send suspicious emails or texts about student finance to [email protected], and says this allows the site to be closed down. Its 2025 statement also names a dedicated hotline for its Economic Crime Unit on 0300 100 0059. The National Cyber Security Centre separately advises that most phone providers accept free reporting of a suspicious text by forwarding it to 7726, so that the provider can investigate the origin and block the sender if malicious.
If money or details have already been lost
Citizens Advice, in guidance that applies to England, says a scam victim should protect themselves from further risk, check whether money can be recovered and report the scam. It advises contacting the bank immediately if account details or a PIN may have been stolen, changing any password that may have been compromised, keeping a record of contact from the scammer, and checking bank statements and credit files for unfamiliar activity. Anyone in England, Wales or Northern Ireland who has lost money can report to Report Fraud, and in Scotland to Police Scotland on 101, according to the NCSC.
Frequently asked questions
Will SLC ever text asking me to click a link to update my bank details?
SLC says it never asks for personal or financial information by email or text. It advises logging in to the online account directly to check any request.
The bottom line
SLC’s advice is consistent: it does not ask for personal or financial details by email or text, does not use WhatsApp or social media to discuss an application, and expects genuine communications to be verifiable by logging in to the account or using a known number. Students should treat urgency and generic greetings as warning signs, avoid publicising payment dates, and report suspicious messages to [email protected] or by forwarding texts to 7726.
Sources
- Student Loans Company via GOV.UK, “Students reminded to be vigilant of scams as 25/26 academic year begins” (10 September 2025)
- Student Loans Company via GOV.UK, “Scams: how you can avoid them”
- National Cyber Security Centre, “Report a scam text”
- Citizens Advice, “What to do if you’ve been scammed” (England)