It has come to our attention that there is a new scam targeting international students. There have been TWO reports of 91探花students falling victims to this scam. We are sharing this information so that you can protect yourself. This is what we know:
- Students received a call from 鈥淯.S. Border & Customs鈥� warning that they 鈥渇ound a package with drugs in it with the students鈥� name on it.鈥� The cell numbers linked to this call are 鈥�206-209-6215鈥� and鈥�206-209-8147.鈥�
- Soon after, same students received an additional follow up call from 鈥淯.S. Border & Customs,鈥� who was a different voice stating that during 鈥渋nvestigation,鈥� sees your bank account is linked to past known drug deals/ers. The cell number linked to this account is 鈥�929-269-1517.鈥�
- Both students were asked to withdraw $2,500.00, put on various dollar value gift cards, then gave all the codes to the caller. The cash is now gone and cannot be retrieved.
Please remember that ICE or any other government official will never call you and ask for money, money wires or gift cards for payment. Scammers tend to use official terms that will it seem that they are a government agency, which is why students believe them鈥攖his is not the case.
If you receive a call like this, please do the following:
- Hang up immediately.
- Report the call to the anonymous ICE tip line at 1-866-347-2423.
- Report the call to the 91探花Police Department (UWPD) at their non-emergency line, (206) 685-UWPD (8973).
- Reach out to the ISS Office if you want to confirm your student status or to ask any questions that you might have.
Please stay alert and be safe.