Watch out for tuition discount scams, rent scams, textbook scams, and phishing
Someone who said they worked for United Parcel Service (UPS) called a McMaster University student in the beginning of September 2022.
The “worker” said that a package from China was being held by Chinese customs because it had bank cards and passports that were connected to an international business scam.
The worker then gave the phone to people who said they were Chinese police. They told the Hamilton student that his bank card had been used in the scam and that he would be charged.
The student talked to the people who said they were police on Skype for about 20 days.
The student was then given an offer: if he paid the Chinese equivalent of $100,000, they would speed up their investigation and not arrest him.
So the student paid up.
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Here’s the problem: according to security reports that CBC Hamilton got through a freedom of information request, there was no investigation, UPS worker, or Chinese police because it was all a scam.
The Hamilton Police Service (HPS) and McMaster University warn students, especially first-year and international students, to be on the lookout for this and other scams when school starts in September.
For more information, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says that scammers have stolen about $283.5 million from Canadians and have received 32,458 reports of frauds this year alone.
Rob Hardy, HPS’s acting staff sergeant of financial crimes, said that there have been five “fake police” scams since 2021. In three of them, people gave money to the scammers.
But, he said, there are other cons to watch out for.
A student lost at least $5,000 in a tuition discount scam
The McMaster security documents also show how a service claiming to offer tuition discounts tricked a woman out of at least $5,000 and how this seems to have been a common scam.
The report says, “This is the fourth time something like this has been reported to campus security.”
In August 2022, the woman saw an online ad on WeChat that said tuition fees could be cut by up to 70%.
The student reached out and agreed to have the company pay her fall tuition. She gave the company her McMaster ID and password so that the company could access her school accounts and make the payments.
She got a letter from McMaster University saying that her tuition had been paid. Hardy said that’s because the company pays for the tuition with credit cards.
The security report says that the student saw the confirmation and sent at least $5,000 to the company in 10 payments.
After the woman sent the money, the company told her that she had to delete all of their messages because it was against the law.
The woman did what she was told, but she found out later that the payments to the school never went through.
“Now the student has to pay their tuition and lose the money they gave,” he said. “There is still an investigation going on about this.”
The security report says that this kind of scam isn’t new, but Hardy says that this is the first time he’s seen it in Hamilton.
Other scams to watch fo
Hardy said that you should also watch out for scams involving rental housing and textbooks.
In most rental scams, a con artist will list a property online for a low price and then make up reasons why you can’t go see the property in person.
They will ask you to send the first and last month’s rent in exchange for the key, but the key never comes in time for move-in day.
“When the victim goes to the house, they find that it’s not even for rent. He said, “Someone really does live there.”
In the textbook scam, a con artist answers an ad from a student who wants to sell a textbook. They will ask for the seller’s bank information and send a lot more money than the book is worth.
Then, the scammer will say they are buying books and ask the original student to keep the money for the book and e-transfer the rest of the money to another email address.
Hardy said, “What ends up happening is that the check that was put into the student’s account wasn’t a valid check, so the student lost the value of the check.”
Gayleen Gray, McMaster’s associate vice-president and chief technology officer, said that the school community is “bombarded” with phishing attempts, in which scammers pretend to be officials and pressure people to respond and give away personal information.
She said that if scammers were successful at phishing, they could get into school systems and set up a more dangerous attack.
How to stay away from scams and what to do if you fall for on
Hardy said that money is often sent across borders when scams happen. He told international students that Canadian police officers can’t take money from people and will never ask for it.
He also said that people shouldn’t act quickly, should do their research, and shouldn’t give out their banking information.
“We tell people all the time to stop, look, and listen. Swindlers take advantage of people who are in a hurry. “Pause for a moment, take a deep breath, and take a look at the situation,” he said.
“Is it possible? Is it a good business plan for a company to pay for all of your college costs if you give them half of what you earn? That makes no sense, doesn’t it?”
Hardy said that people should also listen to their gut feelings or the doubts of people around them.
“Most people who have been scammed or who almost were will tell you that something inside them told them this wasn’t right,” he said.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre also has a list of the different types of scams that people can look at. There is also a page on McMaster’s website about scams.
Hardy said that if McMaster students fall for scams, they should go to school security or call the police.
“Something in that information you have may be the key to a bigger picture,” he told her.
“No one wants you to lose money except the people who are trying to scam you.”