A Dayton-area bank has claimed to have identified a new financial aid scam targeting students, including students at Sinclair Community College.<\/p>\n
A representative of a local bank said he contacted Sinclair Police and the Student Leadership Development Office, describing a con in which a man, claiming to be from an existing financial institution, approaches students with the offer of quick and easy financial aid awards in exchange for their debit card and pin number. Shortly after handing over his card and information, a fraudulent check is deposited into the student\u2019s bank account and the student\u2019s funds are drained.<\/p>\n
The representative of the bank who contacted Sinclair said at least two Sinclair students have been identified as falling prey to the scam. He also said the consequences of the scam go beyond just a depleted bank account, and that the cardholder could also be held responsible for depositing a fraudulent check.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not give your debit card and pin number out to anybody \u2014 for any reason,\u201d he said. Although he could not verify the occurrence of this specific scam on Sinclair\u2019s Dayton campus, the bank representative said no legitimate banker would ever merely need one\u2019s debit card and pin number in order to grant financial aid to a student.<\/p>\n
President of the Student Government Association Brandon Whitehorn was quick to notify others of the possible trap, and said he\u2019s concerned about his fellow students.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy hope is that people spread the word, so this doesn\u2019t happen to other Sinclair students.\u201d Whitehorn said. \u201cIt\u2019s as easy as keeping your debit card in you pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sinclair Police Chief Charles Gift offered the following tips from the Sinclair Department of Public Safety\u2019s fraud precautions:<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 Always do some research and know who you are dealing with. <\/i><\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 Never give out your social security or credit card number. <\/i><\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Don\u2019t send money to strangers, wiring money is essentially the same as sending cash. <\/i><\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 Regularly check your bank statements. <\/i><\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 There is always risks involved when investing. <\/i><\/p>\n
Don\u2019t allow others the ability to deposit money into your account. <\/i><\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 Don\u2019t reply to messages requesting personal or financial information. <\/i><\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 Steer clear of foreign lotteries. <\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cIf whatever someone is asking you to do seems too good to be true, it usually is too good to be true \u2013 so, don\u2019t do it,\u201d Gift said.<\/p>\n
Gift said if someone believes he is the victim of a scam, contact the police department within the jurisdiction in which the scam occurred. He added if the scam occurred on Sinclair\u2019s campus or on a Sinclair computer, contact Sinclair Campus Police by calling 937-512-2700 or visiting the Dispatch Office in Building 7, Room 112.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Sinclair Police are very concerned about any crimes that may occur on campus. Our main responsibility is to maintain a safe and secure learning environment for students, faculty and staff,\u201d Gift said. \u201cIf somebody sees something, they should say something and contact the police.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gift said Sinclair\u2019s Dayton campus is considered the safest location within the city of Dayton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Dayton-area bank has claimed to have identified a new financial aid scam targeting students, including students at Sinclair Community College. A representative of a local bank said he contacted Sinclair Police and the Student Leadership Development Office, describing a con in which a man, claiming to be from an existing financial institution, approaches students […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tartan-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-2ig","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8821,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8820\/revisions\/8821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}