BRTC warns students of potential scam

POCAHONTAS, AR (KAIT) - Black River Technical College is sending out a warning to students: don't believe everything you see online.

"A lot of deceitful industries look at students as an easy opportunity," Karen Liebhaber said.

Liebhaber, the Vice President for Institutional Advancement, said a professor recently saw an ad on Facebook that appeared to come from BRTC.

"This company called Smart Finance Club went to our website, went to our Facebook page and has taken our name, taken pictures from our site and made it look like an ad from BRTC," Liebhaber said.

The ad encourages students and alumni to call them to qualify for student loan forgiveness. It goes on to state that many other BRTC students have already done so and that the deadline to qualify ends soon.

"I am most concerned that they are going to get really bad information," Liebhaber said. "That someone is going to try and take advantage of them and try to make them maybe sign up for a contract that they absolutely don't need and just give them generally bad student loan advice. That's our biggest concern."

Liebhaber said they aren't the only higher education institution to be targeted.

"There's a college in California they've done the same thing to repeatedly, a college in Nebraska, these are some major universities," Liebhaber said. "It's something that they're doing to any college they can get hold of."

Liebhaber said if a student needs advice on student loans, they can contact BRTC's Financial Counselor, Drew Garland.

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