NJ parents targeted by alarming back-to-school money scam

🚨 South Brunswick families are being targeted by fraudulent emails pretending to come from school district employees.
💳 The emails may ask parents for money, gift cards, classroom-supply funds or personal information.
📧 School officials say don't reply or click links. Suspicious messages should be reported directly to the district.
Scammers are targeting NJ school parents

Back-to-school season already comes with plenty of requests for parents to open their wallets. Now families in one New Jersey school district are being warned that one of those requests could be a scam.

The South Brunswick School District issued an alert after what Superintendent Bernard Bragen described as "several fraudulent emails" were sent to members of the community.

The emails are particularly troubling because they falsely claim to come from South Brunswick school district employees. The messages may ask recipients to provide money, gift cards, personal information or money supposedly needed for classroom supplies.

Requests involving school supplies aren't exactly unusual at the beginning of a new school year. South Brunswick schools publish supply lists for families, making a fake request tied to classroom needs something parents may want to scrutinize carefully.

Don't click that link

Bragen says parents should know what the district will — and will not — ask them to do.

The South Brunswick School District and its employees will not send unsolicited emails asking families for personal financial information or requesting money, gift cards or other funds in this manner, according to the superintendent's warning.

If you receive one of these suspicious emails, the advice from the district is simple: Don't respond. Don't click any links. And don't provide personal or financial information.

What parents should do with suspicious school emails

Instead, parents are being asked to report the message immediately to their child's school or directly to the superintendent's office.

The district issued the warning Sept. 9 and is urging families to remain vigilant while officials work to address the problem.

The alert is also a reminder for parents across New Jersey: An email that appears to come from your child's school deserves the same scrutiny as any other unexpected request for money.

If someone claiming to be a teacher or school employee suddenly wants gift cards, cash or sensitive financial information, don't assume the name in the "from" line means the request is legitimate.

When in doubt, contact the school directly through a phone number or contact information you already know is legitimate — not through a link or contact information contained in the suspicious message.

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