Jessica Wynn

There's no governing body that vets claims.

It's basically the nutritional supplement industry of education.

Lots of marketing, little oversight.

And when challenged, they hide behind disclaimers in tiny print.

Results may vary.

Individual success depends on effort and aptitude or whatever they write.

There's some market consequences, but they only come in the form of bad reviews and word of mouth.

But legally, they're mostly untouchable.

There should be oversight, at minimum requiring evidence for claims like average score increases by so many points.

But it's tricky because you get into free speech issues.

Can the government tell a publisher what they can and can't claim about their book?

Oh, yeah.

Scammers will call parents saying your child requested SAT prep materials through the college board.

We just need your credit card.

They have names, addresses, school information, even the date and location of the scheduled test.

So it all seems completely legitimate.

Right.

Correct.

The scammers are getting them from data breaches or purchase lists or just looking at social media at kids talking about when they're taking the test.

So there's a whole underground market for student information.