September 17, 2025.
How to Spot a Fake College Website.
A fake college website may have:
- Wrong or missing contact information: If there is no phone number, no address, or no one is answering you, the website might be fake.
- A domain that doesn’t end in .edu: Most real colleges have websites that end in .edu. Fake sites may use .com, .net, .college, .education, or .university.
- Promises that sound too good to be true: Fake colleges may say you can earn a degree without doing any homework. Some may also offer degrees in just a few weeks or allow you to obtain a degree based on experience alone.
- Strange ways to pay: Real colleges will never ask you to pay using gift cards or cryptocurrency. Scammers use these methods because they are hard to trace.
- Grammar or spelling mistakes: Fake websites often have misspelled words or confusing sentences.
- Pushy advertising tactics: Fraudsters may use spam, pop-up ads, and high-pressure calls to advertise their fake school. Real colleges are less likely to do that.
How to Protect Yourself
- Find the college’s contact information yourself: Don’t trust the phone number or email on the website right away. Look up the school independently. Then call or email to ask questions.
- Look for real reviews: Try searching online for the college’s name to find past students and professors. Don’t rely only on reviews or stories on the college’s own website.
- Check if the college is accredited: You can see if a college is accredited by looking it up on the U.S. Department of Education’s website.