Parents are warned of scam St Lawrence College fees email

St Lawrence College Photo Akafinto via Wikimedia Commons

Bogus emails are reportedly being sent to parents and carers with children at St Lawrence College in Ramsgate, asking for payment of school fees.

Correspondence sent to parents says the College Road school, established in 1879 and home to 650 day and boarding pupils, has been targeted by scammers asking for payment via the emails under the guise of a school registrar.

The first email was sent on December 27 and invited recipients to pay their school fees for the Lent and Summer 2019 terms in advance, in order to receive a discount.

The email initially asked parents to make payment in Crypto Currency to secure the discount and further emails from the same perpetrators offered false bank account details into which funds could be paid.

The message from the school to parents says: “Once alerted, the college took action to secure our servers and email accounts, but it now appears that the perpetrators have created a spoof email account, again purportedly from (the registrar).

“(The) emails are not originating from St Lawrence College. The perpetrators are using this spoof email address to circulate a ‘last minute early bird offer’ deal for payment of school fees. Once again this email is completely bogus.

“We are continuing to work with the authorities to investigate the cause of the original breach.”

The breach was reported to Kent Police on December 29 and has now been passed to Action Fraud.

St Lawrence College has been contacted for further information.