A text claiming to be your child's teacher asks you to send money for supplies or fees
As school starts, scammers mine back-to-school social media posts for your child's name and teacher, then text you impersonating that teacher requesting Zelle, Venmo, or a gift card for supplies or fees.
Also known as: teacher impersonation text scam, fake school fee text, back-to-school teacher text fraud, school official impersonation
Already happened to you? Do this in the next few minutes
- 1 Call your bank or card's fraud line right now. Use the number on the back of your card — not any number from the message or caller. Ask them to stop or reverse the payment and freeze the account.
- 2 If you paid by gift card, wire, or an app (Zelle, Venmo, Cash App): contact that company immediately and report it as fraud. Acting fast sometimes recovers the money.
- 3 Report to the FBI at ic3.gov and the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. The sooner, the better.
What to do right now
- 1 Do not pay — hang up or close the message and verify through the school's official phone number (not the number in the text)
- 2 Call the teacher or front desk directly using the contact on the school's official website to confirm whether the request is real
- 3 Avoid posting your child's full name, school name, teacher name, and grade publicly on social media — this is the intelligence scammers harvest
- 4 Real schools almost never request payment via Zelle, Venmo, gift cards, or Cash App — they use official school payment platforms
- 5 Report suspicious texts to 7726 (SPAM) on your phone
- 6 Report to the FTC at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov and the FBI's IC3 at https://www.ic3.gov.
Red flags
- ⚠ Text from an unfamiliar number identifies itself as your child's teacher or school admin
- ⚠ The message correctly names your child, their grade, or their teacher — details you may have posted publicly
- ⚠ Payment is requested via Zelle, Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, or a gift card — schools use official portals or checks
- ⚠ The request is urgent ('I need this today for tomorrow's lesson')
- ⚠ A payment link in the text leads to an unofficial page — not the school's own payment system
- ⚠ AI-generated messages are professional and closely mimic school communication style
Sources
- Action News 5 / IRS — IRS warns families about back-to-school scams targeting parents and students (Jul 25, 2026)
- FCC — Back to School Scams (2026)
- WSAW — Experts warn of back-to-school shopping scams including teacher impersonation (Aug 20, 2026)
- WRAL — Back-to-school photos and supply deals: Don't get scammed as students head back to classrooms (Aug 2026)
- WTOC — Former police chief warns families about back-to-school scams (Aug 4, 2026)
- Wave3 — Federal agencies warn of back-to-school scams targeting students and families (Aug 4, 2026)