Students are most often taken advantage of by searches and applications that require a fee, he said.

Victims lose $100 million annually, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

The searches collect anywhere from $20 to hundreds of dollars per student, according to the Better Business Bureau of western Pennsylvania.

The searches often guarantee to return a certain number of scholarship matches for students.

"The searches can't guarantee anything, because the student still does the work themselves," Anna Griswold, Penn State assistant vice provost for student aid, said.

Griswold explained the fraudulent searches often return lists of scholarships that include ones students were already aware of.

"The student only paid for the list, which oftentimes even comes with state-awarded grants the student already knew about," Griswold said.

The searches may also claim to be endorsed by the bureau or a similar government agency, despite the fact these agencies do not endorse businesses.

Although it is not illegal to charge for these services, students should know there are legitimate companies that will do the same searches for free, said Johnette Lopuszynski, director of public relations and consumer education for the Better Business Bureau.

Penn State is a member of FastWEB.com and encourages students to use it and other similar free services, Griswold said.

One common claim fraudulent companies make is that there is a massive amount of money available left from unclaimed scholarships.

"There are a lot of scholarships unclaimed, but the vast majority are because no one is eligible," Hulst said.

An example of this would be a scholarship fund set up for children of employees at a certain company.

"If no one qualifies for this, no one is awarded the scholarship," he said.

But companies that fraudulently guarantee service are not escaping the notice of agencies like the FTC.

In 1996, the FTC started the project Scholarship Scams, which educates students about common scams and fraudulent companies.

There also are ways students can watch for these scams themselves, said Michelle Muth, of the press office for the FTC.

"Before accepting a scholarship," Muth said, "it is always good to call the Better Business Bureau or attorney general's office in the area that the scholarship comes from."