Looking for a college scholarship? Be careful!

You've seen the scholarship links on the web. "Click here for "$3,000 of Obama bail out money now!" But not all scholarship scams are that obvious. Some try to appear viable, but there are characteristics you should be aware of, according to blogger Nate Desmond at Debt Free Scholar.

Desmond lists 23 scholarship scams that swindlers have effectively used on students and their families. For example, scholarship money is usually distributed by non-profit organizations so if the website you go to is not from a 501c3 organization in the US, it's probably a fake.

Desmond also said to watch for misspellings in the text and, the most interesting of all to me, if it has a Florida or California address. Find out why that's important at Desmond's post.

In addition to this post, Desmond has a bunch of other great advice for you to become a debt-free scholar instead of a college grad saddled with school loans that could take decades to pay back.

Posted by Shawn Cohen