URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — The University of Illinois Police Department reported on Tuesday that two new students were collectively scammed out of more than $230,000 in recent months.
Officials said one of the scams started in August and lasted for four months, only recently ending with the student reporting it to U of I Police. The student received a call in August from an unknown person who, impersonating a representative from a parcel delivery company, claimed the company had a package containing illegal items that was addressed to the student. The student was told that he needed to pay $100,000 to avoid prosecution from a foreign police department.
The student was later contacted through a social media app for further instruction. Acting on those instructions, the student created several new bank accounts and transferred $48,000, $51,000 and $23,000 to another bank account, but was later able to recover around $60,000 of this money.
The second student was scammed on Nov. 21. They reported being called by an unknown person who claimed a phone number connected to the student was involved in sending fraudulent messages and she needed to report it to a foreign police department. The student then spoke several times with someone posing as a foreign police officer, who threatened the student with extradition and the freezing of her parents’ assets is she didn’t deposit money in a…
