Police warns parents of increased bursary scams as schools resume
Police have warned parents to be wary of increased bursary scams targeting them as schools resume following two years of closure.
Schools will on Monday , January, 10, 2022 reopen after being closed two years ago following the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic.
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However, in a statement released on Friday, Police spokesperson, Fred Enanga said they have started getting concerns from members of the public about conmen targeting vulnerable students, families and good Samaritans with fake bursaries, scholarships and fundraising activities with a sole aim of fleecing them.
“For instance, there are fraudsters who are using the “O” level results of a one Atucungwire Princess, who passed in Grade 1, from Kibingo Girls SSS, to solicit funds. We are asking the public to ignore the tweet that has gone viral, simply because the victim has already secured sponsorship from an American organization.As a result a casefile has been opened at Sheema police station, to track down the culprits,”Enanga said.
We are also using this opportunity to call upon any persons who could have fallen victim to this fundraising scam or other form of education scam, to liaise with the police at Sheema.”
According to police, other common areas of fraud are offers of bursaries and admissions to schools never applied for, processing fees for bursaries, companies with expensive and sometimes vague bursaries which he said use a language and techniques which entice intending beneficiaries.
“It is therefore, important that parents and students do sufficient homework by researching about the scholarship or bursary. They should look for previous beneficiaries or students for legitimacy. In addition, it is important to correspond with the alleged sponsors in writing for record purposes. Usually conmen are hesitant to correspond in writing which is a sign of fraudulent activity.”
Many parents are liable to fall prey to these scams at this time when there are economic hardships as a result of the Covid pandemic that has bartered the entire world but want to ensure their children return to school.
This is coupled with the usually hard economy situation in the month of January when many have spent most of the money during the December festive season.
When a parent sees any advert about school bursaries or scholarship, they will jump onto it without thinking twice but according to police this is wrong.
There is need to do some background check about the said bursary and scholarship.
