Scams
Protect yourself by learning about the different types of scams that international students can encounter while inside the United States.
What To Do If You Have Been Scammed
If you believe you are a victim of a scam, you can take action to protect yourself.
You can also check the Scam Resources section below for links to report other types of scams.
- Stop all communication with the scammer.
- Change any passwords on any accounts that may be involved with the scam.
- Contact any financial institutions (banks, credit card companies) involved.
- Make a report to your local law enforcement agency. You can also contact the UT Dallas Police Department at 972-883-2222.
- Contact the ISSO for support.
- You can report immigration scams to USCIS here.
Types of Scams
Immigration, Tax, and Government Scams
Students and others in the UT Dallas community have received phone calls from people claiming to work for the U.S. government. The callers can use fake caller ID information, so it appears they are calling from a U.S. government agency phone number or in this scam, a UT Dallas phone number. These calls often involve a request for students to provide personal financial information, including credit or debit card numbers, or for students to purchase gift cards to avoid being jailed/deported.
U.S. government agencies like USCIS, the U.S. Department of State, and the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) would NEVER ask for your bank information or immediate payment over the phone in the form of gift cards or money orders. When a U.S. government agency wishes to reach you, they will notify you in writing before a phone call.
If you do pick up a phone call and the person on the other line identifies themselves as someone who works for one of these U.S. government agencies, ask for the name of the person who you are speaking with and for their badge number. You can also ask to speak to their supervisor and their badge number as well. The ISSO can assist you in helping you identifying if the people you spoke to were from a U.S. government agency or if they were scammers. USCIS has a list of common immigration scams. We recommend you read this information so you can prepare and easily spot a scam.
If you receive a suspicious email claiming to be from USCIS, you can forward to USCIS directly at USCIS.Webmaster@uscis.dhs.gov before responding.
More Info:
The FTC YouTube Page has many helpful videos about scams.
- How to identify an IRS scam
- Listen to what a scam SSN call sounds like
- Report Gift Cards Used in Scams
Read the Federal Trade Commissions article about “Scammers Go After International Students’ Money”.
Employment Scams
Employment scams begin with an unsolicited job advertisement that is sent to a student’s utdallas.edu email account. These emails appear to come from a professor or a legitimate employer on or off campus. The student is often told they will be paid up front for this position and they are instructed to deposit a fake check into their account. Students are told these funds are to pay for personal items or equipment needed to perform the job. What the student does not know is that the check is actually a counterfeit check and by the time their bank discovers the check is fraudulent, you have already spent your own funds for items that will never arrive or given your own money that you can never get back.
Need an example?
It has recently been brought to our attention that one of our prospective students received an unsolicited job offer that was sent to their utdallas.edu email account. This email appeared to come from a professor at UT Dallas and the offer letter had a UT Dallas letter head.
Please see the example of the offer letters the student received:
Employment scams, such as this one, are prevalent among international students. Students are told they will be paid up front for this position and are instructed to deposit a fake check into their account. Students are told these funds are to pay for personal items or equipment needed to perform the job. What the student doesn’t know is that the check is actually a counterfeit check and by the time your bank discovers the check is fraudulent, you have already spent your own funds for items that will never arrive. You will also most likely never get your own money back.
Below are two more employment scam emails that actual UT Dallas students have received:
The Federal Trade Commission also has information on their website about employment scams.
Tips to Identify an Employment Scam
- Look for unusual email addresses. No legitimate company would use a Gmail address to contact you. A UT Dallas ‘professor’ would use a UT Dallas email address, not a free email service.
- You are being offered too much money for the work being done.
- They want to pay you in advance.
- There is no job interview, you are being hired based on your LinkedIn Account/Handshake Account.
- Moving from one medium to another, for example: email to texting/WhatsApp
- Sense of haste.
It is important to remember that the majority of on campus jobs are listed through the University Career Center through Handshake. If you are unsure about a job or a job offer, please contact the ISSO. We will be happy to help identify if the offer is legitimate or not. Working without authorization can cause termination of your F-1 status.
We hope this information is helpful. Thank you for choosing UT Dallas, and we look forward to supporting your success in the upcoming semester.
