International students and scholars should be aware of and protect themselves scams and identity theft. Scams are essentially illegal attempts to convince someone to pay money or give up personal information and other items of value through deception and fraud. Scams happen everyday and have led to losses in the tens of thousands of dollars. However, by educating yourself, you can avoid becoming the victim of one.
Scams come in different varieties - they include immigration and visa scams, tax scams, Social Security scams, and apartment scams. Scammers also use different methods involving telephone calls, e-mail, mail, and other means. For international students and scholars, telephone scams are among the most common. Many telephone scams have the following features:
Scammers are very sophisticated and can seem very real because they may have a surprising amount of information about you. However, US government agencies would almost never contact you over the phone in this way and would never demand "immediate" payment of money in order to avoid arrest or deportation.
Quick Tip: The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Social Security Administration (SSA) will never call you directly about tax or Social Security matters. While it is possible you might be contacted by the US Department of Homeland Security or by the FBI, these direct contacts are extremely rare, and will never lead to a demand for money. Always get the caller's information and arrange to meet them at school. Contact the International Center and/or the Tufts University Police Department to assist you.
In all cases, if you receive a demand that seems surprising, shocking, and unexpected, it is likely a scam. Hang up and call the International Center at (617) 627-3458 or the Tufts University Police Department at (617) 627-3030. You can also report suspicious phone calls that might be scams directly to the Tufts University Police Department.
(!) Recent scams have expanded to include people pretending to be foreign government officers. If someone calls you and says that they are representing your home government, always ask for a number to call back and call your consulate or embassy to confirm.
Identity theft and 'phishing' scams use email, text, and other techniques to steal your personal information - such as your name, date of birth, Social Security Number, address, credit card or bank account numbers, and other information - for illicit or illegal purposes. With this information, the scammers can open credit cards or accounts in your name or gain access to your own accounts.
The easiest way to avoid identity theft is to keep your personal information safe and secret.