Fraudulent change to Student Finance details

Act immediately to secure the account

If you believe fraudsters have changed the bank details on your Student Finance account, treat it as urgent because the aim of this type of fraud is usually to divert your next maintenance or tuition payment to an account controlled by the scammer. The Student Loans Company (SLC) sends a text message to students in England whenever bank details are changed and asks you to confirm the change. If you receive such a message and you did not make the change, do not click any link in it and contact SLC directly.

1. Phone Student Finance England as soon as possible on the number shown on the official GOV.UK Student Finance contact page, and use SLC’s dedicated fraud hotline on 0300 100 0059. Tell them your account has been compromised and the bank details have been altered without your authority, and ask them to freeze or hold any pending payment.

2. Ask SLC to revert the bank details to your genuine account, to stop any payment about to be released, and to note fraud on your account so that further changes require additional verification.

3. Change the password and security details for your online Student Finance account, and change the password on any email account linked to it, especially if you think the fraudster gained access through a phishing link or a compromised email.

Report the fraud and any scam messages

Report any suspicious text or email that led to this. Forward suspicious emails to [email protected], forward scam texts to 7726, and you can send suspected student finance scam messages to SLC at [email protected] so they can take down fraudulent sites.

Report the fraud itself to Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, either online or by phone. Keep the crime reference number they give you, because SLC, your bank and any other body may ask for it.

If money has already been taken from an account of yours, or a payment has been diverted, contact your own bank straight away using the number on the back of your card. Banks can sometimes recall a payment if they act quickly, and you may have rights to reimbursement depending on how the loss occurred.

Protect against wider identity theft

This kind of fraud often relies on the criminal already holding enough of your personal information, such as your name, date of birth, customer reference number, course details or address, to impersonate you. Because of that, treat your wider identity as potentially compromised.

Consider registering with a protective registration service such as Cifas, which flags your identity so that lenders and organisations carry out extra checks before opening accounts in your name. Check your bank statements and, if you wish, your credit file for anything you do not recognise, and report any further suspicious activity.

Keep evidence

Preserve everything that might help an investigation or a later claim. Keep the scam text or email, screenshots of the changed details and any confirmation messages, the date and time you noticed the change, the names and reference numbers from your calls with SLC and your bank, and your Action Fraud reference. This record will matter if you need to show that the change was unauthorised and that you reported it promptly.

If your payment is delayed or you are left out of pocket

If a payment was diverted and you are left without your maintenance funding, explain the situation to SLC and ask when a corrected payment can be made to your genuine account. If your university tuition payment is affected, tell your university’s finance or student services team so that you are not treated as being in arrears while the matter is resolved. If you face immediate hardship, ask your university about hardship or emergency funds.

If SLC or your bank do not resolve matters fairly, you can escalate. SLC has an internal complaints process, and if you remain dissatisfied you can ask the Independent Assessor who reviews Student Loans Company complaints. Complaints about how your bank handled a diverted or unauthorised payment can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service once the bank has issued its final response or eight weeks have passed.

Reduce the chance of it happening again

Always go directly to the official GOV.UK Student Finance pages or the genuine login rather than following links in messages. Never share your customer reference number, password or full bank details in response to an unexpected call, text or email, and be cautious around payment dates in September and January when these scams peak. If a message asks you to verify or re-enter bank details through a link, treat it as suspicious and confirm directly with SLC.

What is likely to have happened

Before assuming a large-scale breach, bear in mind that most of these cases stem from a phishing or smishing message that tricked the student into entering their login or bank details on a fake page, or from someone gaining access to a linked email account. Identifying how the fraudsters got in helps you close the gap, so review recent messages you may have responded to and secure any account that shares the same password.

The most important immediate steps are to contact SLC’s fraud line and your bank without delay, because stopping a diverted payment before it is released gives you the best chance of avoiding any loss.