FBI warns of scam targeting foreign college students
Aug. 4 (UPI) -- FBI officials in Philadelphia on Monday issued an advisory warning international college students about a scam that involves foreign impersonators. They advised potential victims to report it.
Officials at the Philadelphia office of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation say that college and university students studying abroad in the United States -- particularly Chinese citizens -- are at risk of an ongoing scheme that involves a foreign government impersonator.
"We are actively engaging with the public, academic institutions, and our law enforcement partners to identify and support those impacted by this scheme," Wayne Jacobs, special agent in charge of the FBI's Philadelphia Field Office, said in a statement.
According to FBI officials, since 2022 the Philadelphia office has seen an uptick in criminal activity with actors attempting to make a victim believe they are a Chinese police officer in order to defraud them.
A scammer will tell a victim they are under investigation for an alleged financial crime in China and will need to pay in order to to avoid arrest.
The typically four-phase scam will see a fraudster call from what appears to be a legitimate phone number associated with a mobile telephone service provider. They will inform a victim their private information had been "linked to either a subject or a victim of a financial fraud investigation," officials say.
They added that a criminal actor will involve another person who acts as a provincial Chinese police officer and will seek to apply further pressure in attempts to get a potential victim to "return to China to face trial or threaten them with arrest."
"Criminal actors direct victims to consent to 24/7 video and audio monitoring due to the alleged sensitivity of the investigation and/or to demonstrate the victims' innocence," the FBI's Philadelphia field office stated Monday.
"Victims are instructed not to discuss the details of the case, not to conduct Internet searches, and to report all their daily activities," it added.
The bureau gave a similar notice last year about China-based imposters seeking to extort money from victims.
Other scams in the past also have affected Chinese victims. In 2019, the Chinese mother of a Stanford University student expelled in the college admissions scandal said she was duped into paying over $6 million in the belief the money was for college-related costs.
Jacobs, the FBI's Philadelphia field office chief, says the scams "inflict more than just financial harm." He said many victims "endure lasting emotional and psychological distress."
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