{"id":5128,"date":"2023-07-05T16:16:41","date_gmt":"2023-07-05T21:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/cie\/services\/students\/avoiding-scams-targeting-international-students\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T15:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T21:05:12","slug":"avoiding-scams-targeting-international-students","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/cie\/services\/students\/avoiding-scams-targeting-international-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding Scams Targeting International Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"uwm-l-row\">\n<div class=\"uwm-l-col\">\n<p>Scams are dishonest, fraudulent, illegal schemes to make money. Unfortunately, there are often scams targeting International Students and Scholars in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We encourage you to protect your personal information, including your immigration information. Do not disclose any personal details to people you do not know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have been the victim of a scam, you should contact the police immediately. If you are unsure of the validity of communication you received, make an appointment with an immigration coordinator or email <a href=\"mailto:isss@uwm.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">isss@uwm.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What You Should Know<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The U.S. government agencies will only contact you in writing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There are many phone scams targeting international students \u2013 DO NOT SEND MONEY!\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Scammers often know your name, address, phone number, your home country, and other personal information.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They may SPOOF phone numbers from legitimate law enforcement offices. One of the techniques they use is to tell you to Google their number. A Google search will tell you that the number is a legitimate number. BE AWARE THAT THEY HAVE SPOOFED THESE PHONE NUMBERS. EVEN IF THE NUMBER IS LEGITIMATE, the person calling you is not.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There are many email scams (phishing), DO NOT CLICK ON LINKS without verifying the validity of the email\/link.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Additional Resources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>USCIS has helpful resources on their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscis.gov\/avoid-scams\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AVOID SCAMS webpage<\/a>, including information on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscis.gov\/scams-fraud-and-misconduct\/avoid-scams\/common-scams\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">common immigration scams<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The IRS website describes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/newsroom\/suspicious-emails-and-identity-theft\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">potential scams that could affect you<\/a>. If you receive any suspicious emails from the IRS, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/privacy-disclosure\/report-phishing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report them to the IRS<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"uwm-l-col uwm-l-col--4 uwm-l-offset--1\"><div class=\"content_block\" id=\"custom_post_widget-4043\"><nav aria-label=\"Sidebar\" class=\"uwm-p-navigation-list uwm-p-navigation-list--gold-border \"><div class=\"uwm-p-navigation-list--title\">Student Life<\/div><ul>\n<li class=''><a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/cie\/services\/students\/avoiding-scams-targeting-international-students\/\" class=\"current\" rel=\"\" target=\"\"><span aria-current=\"page\">Avoiding Scams Targeting International Students<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n<li class=''><a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/cie\/services\/students\/housing\/\" class=\"\" rel=\"\" target=\"\"><span>Housing<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n<li class=''><a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/cie\/services\/students\/money-and-banking\/\" class=\"\" rel=\"\" target=\"\"><span>Money &amp; Banking<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n<li class=''><a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/cie\/services\/students\/wisconsin-drivers-license-and-state-id\/\" class=\"\" rel=\"\" target=\"\"><span>Wisconsin Driver&#8217;s License &amp; State ID<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n<li class=''><a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/cie\/services\/students\/grocery-stores-and-shopping-near-campus\/\" class=\"\" rel=\"\" target=\"\"><span>Finding Food &amp; Other Essentials Near Campus<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n<li class=''><span>International Dining Guide<\/span><\/li>\n\n<li class=''><a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/cie\/services\/students\/opportunities\/\" class=\"\" rel=\"\" target=\"\"><span>Get Involved<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":30714,"featured_media":0,"parent":3675,"menu_order":93,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[34070]},"class_list":["post-5128","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Center for International Education<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/cie\/services\/students\/avoiding-scams-targeting-international-students\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Avoiding Scams Targeting International Students\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/cie\/services\/students\/avoiding-scams-targeting-international-students\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Center for International Education\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-06T21:05:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/cie\\\/services\\\/students\\\/avoiding-scams-targeting-international-students\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/cie\\\/services\\\/students\\\/avoiding-scams-targeting-international-students\\\/\",\"name\":\"Avoiding Scams Targeting International Students - Center for International Education\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/cie\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-05T21:16:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-06T21:05:12+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/cie\\\/services\\\/students\\\/avoiding-scams-targeting-international-students\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/cie\\\/services\\\/students\\\/avoiding-scams-targeting-international-students\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/cie\\\/services\\\/students\\\/avoiding-scams-targeting-international-students\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/cie\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"International Students &amp; 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