The expense of returning to school often entails far more than the cost of tuition. Students and the parents/caregivers who support them are wise to look for the best deals possible, but scammers, spammers, and phishers are looking to outsmart you at every turn.

These common back-to-school scams offer the perfect study guide for protecting yourself from security threats.

1. SMS giveaways and freebies

Congratulations! You’ve just received a text message saying you’ve been awarded a free back-to-school shopping spree. You just have to visit a website, provide your email address… and you will be “rewarded” with endless emails, texts and automated phone calls from the company you’ve just given your information to.

Bonus: You’ll also get solicitations from the marketing companies they’ve sold your information to if you happen to agree with their privacy policy before catching on to the phony SMS message.

Most companies don’t market via SMS. If you’re curious about whether the deal is legitimate, search for the company and the deal it’s claiming to offer online. If you don’t see your offer listed, you are being phished.

2. Social media scams

You know the familiar Facebook sidebar, advertising deals, offers and giveaways that seem too good to be true; and they often are. Common back-to-school scams show up in the form of ads promising desirable mobile devices, $1000 gift cards and department store vouchers for a fraction of the price.

These seemingly unbeatable deals often lure curious Facebook users away from their news feeds to investigate further. They are particularly dangerous because they often only depend on the user clicking the advertisement. Instead of being one click away from a $19.99 iPad, you’re downloading malware onto your electronic device.

3. Advertisements

Whether they’re arriving by pop-up, sidebar or email, always inspect back-to-school advertisements and promotions closely. A poorly constructed malicious ad will often feature spelling errors, bad grammar and distorted or unfamiliar company logos, but many scam advertisements are hard to spot at first and even second glance.

One way to ensure an advertisement is authentic is to search for the language appearing in the ad along with the company name through a reputable search engine. If nothing comes up (or if the search results look just as suspicious), the ad is likely a fraud.

Scammers and phishers purposely make it easy to click your way right into a situation that compromises your private data. Ensure your security software is up to date on all devices you use for web browsing and be wary of clicking on links from unknown sources. To help you identify fraudulent emails, ITS will continue to simulate phishing and assign training to those most susceptible. If you believe you’ve been targeted by phishing, see Reporting a Phishing Message (How-to).

— Carla Herling, ITS