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- Study course: how scammers speculate on the topic of student scholarships
Study course: how scammers speculate on the topic of student scholarships
Fraudsters can use various schemes on the subject of scholarships to deceive Russian students in 2026, experts have warned about this. Attackers take advantage of the fact that university students are constantly online and trust digital data, and they often lack money and are easily attracted by promises of easy payments. For more information about how scammers speculate on the topic of student scholarships, what are the dangers of such tricks and how to protect yourself from them, read the Izvestia article.
Why is the subject of student scholarships interesting to scammers
Students are ideal targets for scammers, Ekaterina Edemskaya, a cyber expert and analytical engineer at Gazinformservice, points out in an interview with Izvestia. University students are constantly online and trust digital data. At the same time, they often lack money and are easily attracted by promises of easy payments. Attackers masterfully play on their emotions: they scare them with missed deadlines or invented new programs.
— In this fuss, the student does not notice how he gets to the phishing site and gives his passport data or SNILS himself. And this is a direct way to apply for microloans in his name. Scammers love this theme, because it brings a huge stream of fresh bases for resale. A simple mailing list in a student chat is becoming a gold mine for hackers that does not require complex technical hacking," says the expert.
Receiving a scholarship provides important financial support to many students, so messages about its appointment or the need for registration are guaranteed to interest them, adds the data analyst of the Coordination Center of the domains .RU/.Russian Federation Evgeny Pankov. Attackers use the turmoil and excitement of students before the start of the school year to lure out personal and bank data, get money or access to an account on "Public Services".
What student scholarship schemes should we expect in 2026
In 2026, fraudsters will continue to use deception schemes related to the registration of scholarships and will improve them, according to Anastasia Patrusheva, a specialist in the cyber intelligence department of Bastion. According to the expert, we should expect calls and text messages on behalf of university staff or relevant departments with a proposal to issue or confirm receipt of funds through fake websites.
"At the same time, attackers will send phishing links to departmental resources to messengers, as well as use various technologies based on social engineering methods and increase trust in calls," warns the Izvestia interlocutor.
In turn, Evgeny Pankov predicts that in the coming months we can expect both improvements to already known scholarship schemes and the emergence of new ones using malicious software. For example, attackers can send letters and messages to students with attachments disguised as a "List of Scholarship Recipients" or "Scholarship Application documents." In fact, such PDF, Excel files or archives may contain malicious code or stylers that steal passwords, cookies, personal and payment data.
Another option may be to offer to install an APK file under the guise of the application "Personal account of the university" or "Name of the university scholarship," notes Evgeny Pankov. After downloading, the malware can intercept messages and confirmation codes, simulate windows of banking applications, and steal account data in messengers and social networks. According to the expert, the number of attacks using military hardware increased dramatically in 2026 as a whole.
For example, according to the Domain Patrol project, in the first half of the year, the number of requests related to the spread of malware on the Runet increased 2.8 times, and their share in the total threat structure increased from 21 to 47.5%. Attackers are moving from relatively simple phishing schemes to more complex and potentially dangerous ones: infecting users' devices for subsequent data theft and gaining access to their accounts and banking services.
What schemes on the subject of student scholarships have you encountered before
Meanwhile, scammers have been trying to speculate on the topic of student scholarships for several years. In particular, according to Evgeny Pankov, in 2025, scammers posed as employees of educational institutions and even the Ministry of Education and Science and offered students to receive a scholarship by confirming their data on the Gosuslugi portal.
— Another popular scheme was fake aggregator sites offering "secret" grants. The student filled out a questionnaire, and in order to receive money, he was asked to pay a transfer fee. The funds simply went nowhere," Ekaterina Edemskaya says in an interview with Izvestia.
In addition, fraudsters massively sent letters allegedly from the dean's offices demanding urgent confirmation of the status for social payments, the expert continues. The victim clicked on the link to the clone of the university's personal account and gave the passwords herself, and the attackers immediately took away access and stole personal data.
Such schemes are especially effective against first—year students, yesterday's schoolchildren, for whom parents used to decide everything, says Alexandra Shmigirilova, GR director of the Security Code information security company. Such students have no experience of independent communication with government agencies, they do not know how to distinguish real rules from suspicious ones, so any instructions from the accounting department to install the scholarship application are accepted without doubt.
The consequences of installing VPO are serious: fraudsters can block the phone, gain access to banking applications and demand a ransom, steal passwords and documents, and send requests for financial assistance on behalf of the victim to all contacts.
— Attackers often use stolen student accounts as a springboard for attacks on the internal network of the university itself. Another hidden threat is the victim's involvement in the money withdrawal chain. The student is offered to receive a grant on his card and transfer part of it back to taxes, making him an accomplice to the crime, warns Ekaterina Edemskaya.
How to protect yourself from Student Scholarship Fraud schemes
In order to protect themselves from fraud schemes on the subject of student scholarship registration, experts interviewed by Izvestia advise following certain safety rules. First of all, according to Evgeny Pankov, it is necessary to remain vigilant and critical thinking — not to succumb to the haste and panic that scammers play on.
"Students, as young people, are very susceptible to pressure — when an adult calls them and demands that they do something in a short time, they are more malleable and obedient than adults, and scammers actively use this," confirms Alexandra Shmigirilova.
In this regard, it is important for university students to exercise maximum care and independently check all the information received on the official websites of educational institutions by entering their addresses manually in the browser, rather than clicking on links from letters or messages, advises Evgeny Pankov. In addition, it will be useful to call an official at the university and clarify whether the rules for awarding scholarships have really changed, whether there are any allowances and whether a special application is required to receive them, adds Alexandra Shmigirilova.
Experts urge not to enter personal and bank data on unverified websites, not to share SMS codes, logins and passwords from Gosuslug and other accounts with anyone, and not to install applications or open attachments at the request of unknown senders.
— Be sure to enable two-factor authentication on Public Services and in mail, so that hackers cannot log in even after learning the password. Set up a separate email address for educational portals and do not use passwords from social networks there. If you are promised easy money in a couple of clicks, it is always a trap," concludes Ekaterina Edemskaya.
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