Common Scams

How you can tell it's a scam

Scams are dishonest, illegal schemes to make money. There are several ways that people try and defraud, like a phone call from a stranger posing as a government official or law enforcement, a potential employer or landlord asking for personal and financial information before ever meeting you or emails from unknown addresses requesting information urgently. Below are descriptions of some of the most common scams students and scholars encounter—learn how to recognize the signs and protect yourself.

Rental Listing Scams

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 the money, they disappear, and the tenant is left with no place to live.

Scammers create rental ads with 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 a job or overseas for missionary work and avoid responding to detailed questions about the property. Despite attempts to see the property, the scammer will explain that the home must rent without being seen 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. They might request wire transfers through companies like Western Union or MoneyGram, which are untraceable and non-refundable. This is a huge warning sign.

Fraudulent Phone Calls

Beware of phone calls from strangers claiming to be government or law enforcement officials. These people can make it look like they are calling from a legitimate phone number. Scammers might demand you send money or gift cards immediately, and threaten arrest or deportation if this is not done right away.

Common Themes

The caller ID or phone number looks like a government agency or police
A claim is made that you owe money or have committed some kind of fraud
A caller or letter will use fear, threats, and intimidation to get what they want
A scam requires immediate action
A scam includes punishment (often threats of deportation or arrest) for not acting immediately
A scammer will keep you on the phone for a long time and will not let you hang up to call back later
A scammer will use lots of legal-sounding language such as “federal regulations” and “visa fee” to sound as legitimate as possible

The IRS (Internal Revenue Service), UC Citizenship and Immigration Services, the FBI or any other Federal government agency will never:

Contact you via phone, text message, email, or social media
Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes or debts, such as a prepaid debit card or gift card
Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying

Phishing Websites or Emails

Scammers may also try to get your sensitive information through email. This is called “phishing.” Phishing is “the activity of defrauding an online account holder of financial information by posing as a legitimate company.” Some scams use websites that may look legitimate to capture personal or financial information. These false websites could use a recognizable business or organization's name or logo, but the URL will be unfamiliar or will not begin with https://, which keeps 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. See the example below to identify characteristics of a phishing email.