Common Scams to Know

Here are descriptions of some common scams international students and scholars may encounter. Click on each topic to learn what the scam looks like, how scammers make money by using it and how you can avoid the scam.

• Rental/Housing Scam

• What Does This Scam Look Like:
  These scams take advantage of trusting renters with a "too good to be true" rent price. They often list a vacancy ad on reputable rental listing sites and ask for a security deposit and first month’s rent in exchange for keys. Once the scammer secures your money, they will disappear. There was no vacant property, and the tenant is left with no place to live.

  Scammers create rental ads using real or fake information about homes or apartments that have been previously listed for rent or sale. The “owner” or “landlord” will often email the prospective renter, claiming they are out of town for some reason, and avoid answering in detail your questions about the property. Despite your attempts to see the property, the scammer will explain that the home must be rented without being seen first due to their current long-distance living situation. 

  Rental scammers will try to include a lot of unnecessary detail to appear legitimate to prospects. They will mention lawyers or agents and added security measures, like address verification, to build trust and authority with their victim. At the same time, they remain vague and distant about property specifics or reasons for not accepting alternative payment forms.  
  
  How Scammers Take Your Money or Information:
  They will pressure you into acting quickly on their "deal" and providing payment. They might request wire transfers through companies like Western Union or MoneyGram, which are untraceable and non-refundable. This is a huge warning sign. Never give your personal or financial information to someone you don't know. 
  
  How You Can Avoid This Scam:
  Never give your personal information or money for an apartment or housing until you have either seen the place in person or signed a lease. A deposit and rent is typically due when you sign a lease agreement. 

• Government Imposters
• What Does This Scam Look Like:
  An urgent text or phone call (usually) from a government or law enforcement agency alerts you to a problem that you must resolve immediately or you will face consequences. One scam tells you there's a warrant out for your arrest and that officers are coming to get you right now unless you pay immediately. Another scam tells you that your phone number has been used to commit fraud and now you are at risk of losing your visa or social security number if you don't pay. 
  
  How Scammers Take Your Money or Information:
  The scammer typically demands payment or a bribe to prevent consequences. They may also ask you to confirm or share your personal information or financial data. 
  
  How You Can Avoid This Scam:
  It is important that you know and remember that the government and law enforcement will not call you or text you. If you receive a phone call like this, hang up immediately. If you receive a text like this, do not respond or engage. If you want reassurance that this is fake, call the non-emergency phone number of the law enforcement agency the scammer impersonated, or contact your SISS advisor.
• Job Scam: You got a job you don't remember applying for
• The Career Center has helpful information about job scams.
  Read more about them
   
• "A warrant has been issued for your arrest"/"You did something illegal and now law enforcement are on their way to arrest you." 
  Claims you are involved in illegal activity and will be asked to leave the country
• What Does This Scam Look Like:
  First, there's no warrant and no one is coming to arrest you. This tactic of using a false (and scary) emergency is designed to get you to react without thinking it through. 
  
  This can be in the form of a phone call or text message that can look legitimate. A claim will be made that law enforcement is aware of illegal activity you are accused of being involved in, that a warrant has been issued for your arrest, and/or that your visa is threatened and authorities are on their way to detain or arrest you.
  
  How Scammers Take Your Money or Information:
  The scammer typically demands payment or a bribe to prevent consequences or settle a "ticket" or citation. They may also ask you to confirm or share your personal information or financial data. 
  
  How You Can Avoid This Scam:
  It is important that you know and remember that the government and law enforcement will not call you or text you. If you receive a phone call like this, hang up immediately. If you receive a text like this, do not respond or engage. If you want reassurance that this is fake, call the non-emergency phone number of the law enforcement agency the scammer impersonated, or contact your SISS advisor.
• "Please verify your account information"
  Scammers Pretending to be From a Legitimate Company or Organization
• What Does This Scam Look Like:
  The scammer poses as a legitimate company that you may or may not do business with. They will contact you to ask you to verify your account information. 
  
  How Scammers Take Your Money or Information:
  The act of verifying your account information is often a phishing attempt. You might receive a text message or email with a verification link. You may also be asked to share private personal data.
  
  How You Can Avoid This Scam:
  Don't click the link or share personal information. If you were not expecting to receive the message, for example, if you did not reset your password or change your account information, there is probably no reason for the company to have contacted you. You can verify the legitimacy of a request like this by independently visiting the company's website and calling their customer service phone number. 
• "I can't talk, but I need you to buy some gift cards"
  Imposters Pretending to be Your Professor, Dean, Provost, Supervisor or Other Leaders
• What Does This Scam Look Like:
  An email looks like it comes from a credible person of authority, such as your boss, professor, dean or someone else. The email is brief and quick. It tells you they can't talk right now (the excuse might be that they are in a meeting or traveling), but they need you to go buy some gift cards. 
  
  How Scammers Take Your Money or Information:
  If you buy the gift cards as requested, the scammer will ask you for the card number or claim number on the back of the card. They will also ask you to peel back or scratch off the "PIN" code on the back. Once you send them the information, you have essentially given them the card. 
  
  Because gift cards are treated as cash, once the scammer uses the card online, there is no way to retrieve the money you spent on the card. The scammer has stolen it from you.
  
  How You Can Avoid This Scam:
  1) Ask yourself: Is it normal for this person to email you? And if so, does the email sound like that person?
  2) Always check the sender's email address. It can be harder to spot if the scammer has made the address look like it comes from a legitimate person, but hover over or click on the sender's email to see the full address.
  3) Especially here at UC Davis, it would be an odd request to ask someone to go out and purchase gift cards. If you think this is a legitimate request, do not reply to the email. Instead, start a new email and search out the legitimate person's email address from a legitimate source (don't copy the same address that emailed you). In the email, explain that you received a request from an email address that looked like theirs and that you need to confirm it was a legitimate request. Staff and faculty at UC Davis receive annual cybersecurity training and are familiar with this practice of checking in when something seems out of character.
• "We have a package we are trying to deliver"
  Scammers Claiming to be from a Delivery Service

• What Does This Scam Look Like:
  Often, this is a text message that claims to be from FedEx, DHL or another mail or parcel carrier. They tell you they have a package for you, but they need you to confirm information or pay a balance before they can deliver.

  How Scammers Take Your Money or Information:
  We get so many packages these days, it could be easy to forget if you ordered something, or assuming a loved one is sending you a care package. Many people don't think about this request before they reply and either share their personal information, or make a payment. The scammer can use your personal information to impersonate you, gain access to your accounts, or sell to other scammers.
  
  How You Can Avoid This Scam:
  It is unlikely that legitimate delivery and mail-carrying services will contact you and ask you to give them your information or payment. If anything, they might call to verify the information they already have. Look up the company phone number on the company website and call them directly to confirm the request is legitimate.

• "We are your bank and we detected fraud on your account"/"There is a problem with your account"
  Imposters Claiming to be Your Bank

• What Does This Scam Look Like:
  No one wants to receive this message. Remember The 4 Ps? This is the urgent PROBLEM the scammer is using to try to get you to act without thinking too hard about it. Your bank may reach out to you in a number of ways to alert you to a legitimate fraud detection. 

  How Scammers Take Your Money or Information:
  This scam comes with a request for you to "confirm" your account information and often personal information as well. The scammer will try to get you to tell them your account number, PIN, card number and other details. Your bank would already know this information, 
  
  How You Can Avoid This Scam:
  If you receive a message telling you there's fraud on an account, call the customer service phone number on the back of your bank card or look up the bank's customer service phone number online and call that. When you call, let your bank know that you received a fraud alert. If your bank sent the message, they can verify it and let you know what steps you need to take. If it your bank did not send the message, they will tell you that too and may have further instructions about how to deal with it. 

• You've been locked out of your laptop/mobile device

• What Does This Scam Look Like:
  This is called "phishing," and it starts with clicking on a bad link. Be careful while you're online to ensure you visit only legitimate websites. There are websites out there built to look respectable, but that have these bad links that provide criminals with a backdoor into your device. Whether the link is on a website, or from an email or text message, this is how hackers and criminals gain access to your device and data.
  
  How Scammers Take Your Money or Information:
  The criminal can take all sorts of information from you by simply accessing your device. They also may threaten to destroy or even publish your data, photos/videos and information if you don't pay them, usually by sending them money or buying gift cards and providing the card number and claim information. 
  
  How You Can Avoid This Scam:
  Do not click links you didn't expect to receive and/or that are from a source you haven't verified. Remember, these scammers may use recognizable business or organization names and logos, and make it look like their email address or website is real. For example, face.book.com, amzon.com, goo.gle.com. You have to stay alert.
  
  Always use websites that start with https://, as these have protection to keep your information secure from hackers.

  Phishing emails usually come from strangers and can feature a vague subject line or request personal information with unnecessary urgency. Visit How to Prevent Scams to see what to look for in email.  

There are other scams out there. This list is not comprehensive. As we get better at spotting scams and shutting them down, scammers are getting smarter and evolving their schemes. Stay alert, and don't engage with emails, texts or phone calls from addresses or numbers you don't recognize or weren't expecting. 

Be Cautious: Example of Recent Text Scam Attempts