Student Legal Services has issued an alert about a car rental scam that targets college students, primarily Chinese students studying in the United States.

In the scam, a third party (usually an individual person or a company name) advertises heavily discounted prepaid car rentals from a legitimate company like Hertz or Enterprise. The scammer in turn sells the prepaid rental vouchers to students.

Individuals who purchase a voucher are able to rent the car, but will be later charged several hundred dollars from the rental company due to the scammer’s fraud.

To avoid the scam, individuals should:

• Only rent cars directly from reputable rental companies

• Check to see if a third party company offering rental vouchers is listed with the Better Business Bureau. If the company is not rated or has a low rating, do not do business with the company

• Be skeptical. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.

For more information or to ask questions about a purchase or other legal issues, contact Student Legal Services at 402-472-3350 or visit the office at 335 Nebraska Union.