Lawyer warned about scams among online schools

In the era of online services, you can get an education from the comfort of your home, but now not only familiar universities teach, but also private schools, institutes, and even bloggers. Alexandra Polonskaya, a practicing online business lawyer, told Izvestia on July 2 how not to get caught by scammers among online schools and bloggers.

"Online has a lot of advantages. But there is also a risk of getting a substandard service and even running into scammers. In order not only to save time on training, but also to gain knowledge, we need to learn how to see the "red flags" and identify unscrupulous market participants," the lawyer warned.

Before starting training, she noted, it is necessary to check the information about the blogger or the school — it must be complete and comprehensive and publicly available. If the information is incomplete or contradictory, this should alert you. If it is impossible to find the founders, teachers, information about the company, and the school or blogger exists only on social networks or on the website, this is a "red flag".

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The expert also recommended checking for an official contract or a public offer.

"If you are not provided with a document that clearly states the services, cost, terms, refund conditions, and liability of the parties, this may be a deception. Without a contract, no serious company or blogger will provide you with services, especially educational ones. They need a contract as much as you do, if they work honestly. Only a contract can protect them from false accusations from students and consumer terrorism," Polonskaya said.

In addition, according to the lawyer, it is important to have a license for educational activities. But in some cases, it may not be available, for example, if the teacher is an individual entrepreneur and provides all educational services independently, she added.

The expert also recommended that you be wary of prepayments of 100% or large amounts before the start and check the availability of a refund option.

"Prepayment in itself is not a bad thing, but without an official contract and an understanding of what you are paying for, this definitely cannot be done," Polonskaya explained.

The specialist noted: there should be no fabulous promises from the category "you will earn 1 million rubles in a week after the course or you will become a fitness guru from scratch in two weeks." At the same time, the lawyer urged to avoid companies with aggressive marketing that create artificial scarcity.

On June 9, Alexander Khvostov, Director of Relations with the educational community at MAXIMUM Education, told Izvestia that the admission campaign in 2025 was following updated rules. According to him, you can apply to universities (if you do not need to take additional entrance tests) by July 25.