Students warned off web debt scheme

Applying the usual rule of thumb, that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, Times Online has spent this week investigating a web-based wheeze offering to clear the debts of a penurous student

As Rhys Blakely reports, the website Stopsearching.com, due to launch this week, was to offer a prize of more than £12,000 to a student who "wins" a lucky draw.

But the draw would need 5,000 entrants, each paying a fee of £10. Great business for the web entrepreneur, but hardly a sure-fire means of paying off the student loan.

Times Online enquiries of the Gambling Commission and the NUS quickly raised eyebrows, with the NUS advising its members against entering the draw, and the gambling watchdog undertaking to look into the matter further.

We asked our racing desk for its advice on a better way of spending a tenner, and they suggested the 3 o'clock race at Haydock Park. And judging by their track record on tipping winners, that's probably just as likely to come in as any ticket in the web draw.