Every year students lose money, and sometimes a whole application window, to adverts that were never real. The pattern is always the same: an opportunity is announced somewhere legitimate, then copied, altered and reposted on pages that have nothing to do with the institution.
Go back to the source
Whatever you read, find the same announcement on the website of whoever is supposed to be offering it. A bursary from a company should appear on that company’s own careers pages. A NSFAS change should appear on the NSFAS site. An application date for a university should appear on that university’s own admissions pages. If you cannot find it at the source, treat it as unconfirmed.
Nobody legitimate charges you to apply
No genuine bursary, learnership, internship or apprenticeship asks you to pay a registration fee, an administration fee, a placement fee or a fee for a uniform before you start. If money is requested to secure a place, it is a scam. Institutions do charge application fees in some cases, but those are paid to the institution through its own official process, never into a personal account.
Check the date on what you are reading
A lot of what circulates is real but old. Closing dates, funding thresholds and entry requirements change every year, and a post from two years ago can look current. Look for the year in the announcement itself rather than trusting the date on the page you found it on.
Be careful with anything that creates urgency
Messages that push you to act immediately, send documents to a personal email address, or apply through a link that is not on the institution’s own domain are worth slowing down for. Real closing dates are published openly and well in advance.
What to do if you are unsure
Phone the institution. Every public university and TVET college publishes a switchboard number, and the admissions office will tell you in a minute whether something is real. That call is cheaper than losing an application fee or a place.