Recently, it has come to our attention that a student received a fake phone call from someone pretending to be from the University of Sussex. The student reported that they had been contacted by someone claiming to be from the Student Life Centre who suggested that the student hadn’t paid their fees and still owed money. They were calling from a mobile phone.

Fortunately our student was unsure about the validity of this call, so they ended it swiftly and reported it to the Finance team.

We want students to be alert to this – and to know where to get advice if you suspect a phone call is not genuine.  Please remember:

• If you have any queries or doubts about a phone call you receive regarding your fees, please call our Freephone number: 0800 849 4979. This is the number of the Student Accounts department. If you are unsure if a call is valid, you can simply suggest that you want to call back on this number.

• Student Accounts will never contact you from a mobile phone number.

• We encourage you to check your University account online, via Sussex Direct and make secure payments if they are required.

• Remember that if you would like to discuss anything to do with payments, you can do this in person at our counter service, next to the main reception in Sussex House – it’s open Monday to Friday from 10am to 4pm for further assistance.

• Finally, if you do receive a call that you think is suspicious, please take down as much detail as possible and report it immediately to the University, using the Freephone number: 0800 849 4979 – we may suggest reporting the phone call to the Police.

Please do consider the information above – and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions on this. You can email studentaccounts@sussex.ac.uk and we will get back to you asap.

Many thanks,

Student Accounts