Financial Aid and Scholarships is providing the following information and resources to help you remain vigilant against scam/phishing attempts. Remember, our office will not ask for payments of any kind for any services. We also do not ask you for account or password information.

Phishing Scams

Phishing is the attempt to gain sensitive information through deceptive means via email. The UNT IT department provides great information on phishing and how to recognize it.

The UNT Police Department provides information on identity theft and phishing scams.

Beware of a Recent Email Phishing Scams

These types of emails are designed to trick you into giving away personal information or money to computer hackers on the Internet.

  • If you have responded to this email and provided personal information, please change your password immediately by going to the Account Management System.
  • If you have received one of these or similar emails in your Inbox and have not responded, you may simply delete the email - no further action is needed. Thank you for protecting our data and information resources!

September 2019

Some UNT students have recently received an email scam with a subject line of ACTION REQUIRED: FAFSA INFO. The body of the email includes "Your Financial Aid paperwork is incomplete and access the Virtual Campus under the Financial Aid Link to complete" with a link. This email did not come from UNT's Financial Aid office. Please do not respond to or click any links in this phishing email.

August 2019

Some UNT students have recently received an email scam with a subject line of Notice. The body of the email includes information about being approved for a $5,000 Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant along with a link to "access the secured document with your school login details". This email appears to come from a valid UNT email account, but it did not. The reply to email is Private Communication Service. Please do not respond to or click any links in this phishing email.

May 2019

Some UNT students have recently received an email scam with a subject line of Unread messages from financial aid office. The body of the email includes information and a link about "important unread messages from the college's financial aid office". This email appears to come from Financial Aid and Scholarships, but it did not. Please do not respond to or click any links in this phishing email.

December 2018

The IRS sent out a warning this week about a new email scam that may contain malicious malware. The fraudulent emails, which appear to be sent from “IRS Online,” contain an attachment labeled “Tax Account Transcript,” or something similar. The IRS, however, does not send unsolicited emails to the public, nor emails containing sensitive information such as that which is included in a tax return. The IRS asks the public not to open the email, and if using a personal computer to delete it or forward it to phishing@irs.gov. If one is using an employer's computer, the IRS asks that the employee notify his or her company of the email.

September 2018

Some UNT faculty, staff, and students received a scam email with various subject lines and a green box in the body of the message that read "Click here to open this message". This is a phishing attempt and you should not click on the link. If you received the email and clicked on the link, you should update your UNT password immediately.

August 2018

Multiple institutions of higher education (IHEs) have reported that attackers are using a phishing email to obtain access to student accounts via the IHE student portal.

June/July 2018

Some UNT students have recently received an email scam with a subject line of Administrative Announcement . The body of the email included information about a "flexible job opportunity" as a Secret Evaluation Agent. This email appears to come from Financial Aid and Scholarships, but it did not. We do not provide employment information to students. Please do not respond to or click any links in this phishing email.

  • If you have responded to this email and sent money to someone, we encourage you to take the following actions:
    • Contact the UNT Police Department for criminal investigation of the successful and attempted fraud.
    • Contact your bank and/or credit card company immediately to dispute the charges and/or close your account.
    • Change your password immediately by going to the Account Management System.

Cybersecurity Practices

Below are important cybersecurity practices to protect yourself and UNT resources from this and other email scams.

  • Do not click on links contained within an email unless you are certain of the sender's identity and expecting the information.
  • Do not open attachments unless you are certain of the sender's identity and expecting the information.
  • Delete and do not reply to any suspicious or suspect emails.
  • Update your desktop, laptop, and/or mobile device anti-virus software.

Resources and Additional Information

The following resources will help you learn about possible financial aid related scams you may encounter.