Thinking caps on! Avoid scholarship fraud

Candace was about to be a freshman at her state university, and she needed some quick money for her first-semester tuition. She clicked on an ad, “Fast scholarship money now!” in one of her social-media apps, and suddenly her life became even more complicated. “What [the fraudsters] want you to do is click on that link, and the game starts,” says Tom Bartholomy, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau (BBB). “What they’re going to tell you … is there’s all this scholarship money, financial aid money available, but there’s an application fee — hundreds of dollars.”