A Purdue liberal arts student reported Friday that he was scammed out of $150,000.
The 22-year-old student told police he received a call on April 20 from a person who claimed to be the German international shipping company DHL, who said the student was a subject in a money laundering investigation and that he had to wire money.
The student followed the instructions on four different dates during a two-week period, the last being May 9. The amount totaled about $150,000, West Lafayette Police Capt. Adam Ferguson said.
Scams against international students are apparently all too common. The Exponent reported on another incident last month in which
an international student reported he lost about $3,000 after two subjects called him in two back-to-back phone calls and claimed to be a federal immigration authority in one call and from West Lafayette Police Department in another.
Ferguson said both subjects told the victim that he wasn’t “properly registered with immigration authorities and a warrant had been issued for his arrest.” The suspects then told the victim that he needed to pay an “immigration bond” or he would be arrested.
Unfortunately, it is difficult for law enforcement to retrieve money sent overseas, Ferguson said. Once the money is sent, especially with wired money, money “mules” move it out of the account and disperse it,…
