Fraud Alert: When It Comes to Loans, Law Students Really Aren't That Bright

There comes a time when we've got to stop defending law students when they make incredibly irresponsible financial decisions. Sometimes, we've really got to wonder: how can people be so dense? Simply put, it's because they're law students. Case in point: kids at a D.C. metro-area school recently fell victim to a scam that wasn't perpetrated by their law school, but instead, by an alleged law student whose sob story sounded just like a Sally Struthers commercial....

Here at Above the Law, we realize that we sometimes sound like broken records. We’re constantly bemoaning the casualties of the student loan industry, blaming law schools for preying upon poor, innocent, and financially inexperienced law students.

But at some point, there comes a time when we’ve got to stop defending law students when they make incredibly irresponsible financial decisions. Sometimes, we’ve really got to wonder: how can people be so dense? Simply put, it’s because they’re law students.

Case in point: kids at a D.C. metro-area school recently fell victim to a scam that wasn’t perpetrated by their law school, but instead, by an alleged law student whose sob story sounded just like a Sally Struthers commercial….

On Friday, we received this email from a student at George Washington University School of Law. For just 70 cents a day $100 a week, you can make all the difference in a faux law student’s life:

From: GW Safety and Security
Date: Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 2:57 PM
Subject: [GW ALERT] Fraud Suspect
To: GW Users

Members of the GW Community should be cautious of fraud suspect who calls herself “Jenny Mathias,” “Jannett Mathis” or “Helen Matthew.” This individual has asked for loans of money from GW students three times since October. In each case she presents herself as visibly upset, crying and asking for help. The story includes a plea that she was in a car accident, is stranded and cannot afford to get home. In other versions she says friends wrecked her car. She also complains of being quite sick and in need of money to travel to Virginia. She has also claimed to be a GW Law student. This happened once in October and twice within the last seven days. She is described as a black female, Five-Feet, five-inches tall, heavier build, approx 200 pounds and in her late 20’s. She was last seen wearing a dark green down coat and black boots. On three occasions her story was compelling enough that students loaned her over $100 in cash, however when they called her phone number to recover their funds, the number proved to be false.

Please call GWPD if confronted by this suspect.

Sent by GW Safety and Security through GW Alert.

Is it any wonder that law students are always crying poverty? If you’re busy giving your government monopoly money away to strangers on the street, then you’re doing it wrong. But law students are apparently very willing to part with their money — we already knew that. If they weren’t, then the law school industry wouldn’t be so damn profitable.

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But seriously, what were these people thinking? Maybe something like: “Well, I’m already out $100K, what’s another hundred bucks?” Or perhaps: “Gee, I’ve never seen this girl before, but she says she’s a law student, which makes her automatically trustworthy. Please, take my wallet.” Another possibility: “OMG, I didn’t know Precious went to my law school! Hm, I thought she was illiterate. Whatever, here’s some cash.” Did they really think this girl was going to return their money?

In the wise words of current American Bar Association President William Robinson, these law students should have known what they were getting into.

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