Scholarship fraud works because a real offer and a fake one look identical in an inbox. The difference is what happens next: a genuine scholarship sends you money, and a fake one finds a reason for you to send money first. Run the offer through the checks below. Each one comes from published government consumer-protection advice, and the tool points you to the official government register where you can look the institution up yourself.

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How to use the scholarship verifier

Pick where the scholarship or school is based, and where you are. Then work down the checks and tick anything that is true of your offer. The three items in the first block are deal breakers — if any one of them applies, the tool stops scoring and tells you to walk away, because no legitimate scholarship asks you to pay a fee or hand over a banking login to release an award. Everything else adds to a risk score, and the five verification checks at the bottom pull it back down as you complete them. Nothing you tick is sent anywhere; the whole tool runs in your browser.

The two panels on the right change with your answers. Look it up yourself gives you the government register for the destination you chose — the U.S. Department of Education’s accreditation database, the GOV.UK degree-awarding check, Canada’s designated learning institutions list, Australia’s CRICOS register, NZQA, or Ireland’s ILEP and TrustEd Ireland. Where to report it gives you the fraud-reporting channel for your own country. Type register addresses into your browser by hand. Never reach a register through a link the sender gave you, because that link can point anywhere.

The five checks that actually settle it

A scholarship is real if, and only if, you can find it on the awarding body’s own site and the institution appears on its country’s official register. Everything else is circumstantial. In order of weight: find the scholarship on the official site you navigated to yourself; find the institution on the government register; match the course, campus, start date and reference numbers on your offer against the official portal; call a switchboard number you found independently and ask about the award; and confirm the rules, deadlines and selection criteria are published publicly rather than described to you privately. Complete all five and you are as certain as you can be without a lawyer.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if a scholarship is real or fake?

Find it on the awarding body’s own website, reached by typing the address into your browser yourself rather than clicking a link you were sent, and confirm the institution appears on its country’s official government register. If the scholarship is not published on the official site, or the institution is not on the register, treat it as unproven no matter how convincing the letter looks.

Do real scholarships ever charge an application or processing fee?

No. The Federal Trade Commission lists “the scholarship will cost some money” and “we’ll do all the work, you just pay a processing fee” among the standard lines scammers use. A scholarship exists to give you money. Any request for an application, processing, redemption, courier, clearing or security-deposit fee ends the conversation.

What should I do if I already sent money or documents?

Report it straight away. In the United States that is the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov, in the United Kingdom Action Fraud, in Canada the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, and in Australia Scamwatch. Contact your bank immediately about any transfer, change any password you reused, and if the scam borrowed a real university’s name, email that university from an address on its own site so it can warn other applicants.

Is an offer from a Gmail or Yahoo address always a scam?

Not always, but it is a strong warning sign. Admissions and scholarship offices write from their institution’s own domain. Check the sending address character by character — swapped letters, added words and unfamiliar country endings are the usual trick — and verify anything unexpected through a phone number you found on the official site rather than one in the email.

Can an agent get me a scholarship through their contacts?

No. Selection panels and visa decisions are not influenced by intermediaries, and a claim of inside access at a scholarship board, university or embassy is a claim of corruption. In practice it is a story told to justify a fee. Apply through the official portal yourself.

Next steps

Once you have satisfied yourself an award is genuine, check whether you actually qualify with our scholarship eligibility checker, and browse the verified awards in our scholarships hub.