As the back-to-school hustle and bustle begins, scammers are targeting college students as they head back to campus. 

“Scammers do recognize specific times of the year and current events as opportunities to target unsuspecting people,” Public Relations Director for the Better Businesses Bureau of Western PA Caitlin Driscoll said. 

Driscoll said scammers use a variety of methods from optimistic phone calls to phony jobs posts. 

“Employment scams tend to be the riskiest scam that target young adults. Actually, these scams rose by 118 percent last year,” Driscoll said. 

Though college students are a big group that scammers go after, scammers also target younger students too.

“Parents, guardians of even younger students also have to be careful of these scams, especially online due to younger kids being digitally active,” Driscoll said. 

To stay safe, Driscoll said you can stay safe by purchasing from reputable companies, doing your research and using traceable payment methods like credit cards.    

“Always remember to do comparison shopping, question too good to be true pricing and research unknown companies with the Better Business Bureau just to ensure you’re buying from a trustworthy source,” Driscoll said.