Security, Scams targeting International Students and Scholars
International students and scholars have, unfortunately, been a frequently target for scams. Review this KB article to learn more about ways to educate yourself and how to prevent your information from ending up in the wrong hands.
Cybersecurity and privacy have been a large focus as the University advances their posture on digital safety and educating the community in order to develop a risk aware culture. We also each have a personal responsibility to use best practices to protect our personal data online.
Recently, the Office of Identity, Privacy, and Cybersecurity has several received reports of international students who’ve become the target of a recent string of scams. This KB article will provide more information on ways to protect your identity and develop safe online habits.
International students and scholars are frequent targets for scams because of their supposed misunderstanding of how certain systems in the United States operate and many of the methods branches of government use to communicate. It should also be mentioned that scammers or cybercriminals will try to intimidate international students and scholars with baseless claims for deportation or termination of international studies for failing to obey orders. These are more commonly known as “law enforcement scams.”
The International Student and Scholars Services recently wrote a post titled, “Scam Safety.” This article covers, “what is a scam,” “where to look for scams,” “why international students and scholars should be vigilant about potential scams,” and more. Additional information is included in the post about the many types of scams that exist.
Hence, it is important that we, the Office of Identity, Privacy, and Cybersecurity, help relay information to international students and scholars which they can use to remain vigilant and steer clear of scams.
We have several resources on-hand for students to use to learn more about scams:
- How to identity phishing attempts and similar scams
- Phishing attacks from IRS lookalike
- Using the report spam Outlook add-in
- Cybersecurity, gift card scams
- Phishing, don’t get hooked
Any questions regarding Cybersecurity Training and Awareness can be addressed to securitytraining@uillinois.edu. Tickets in TDX can also be transferred to the UIUC-TechServices-Cybersecurity Training and Awareness group for further evaluation.
Any general questions can be referred to the Technology Services Help Desk, by either contacting consult@illinois.edu or 217-244-7000. If you are unsure whether an email is or isn’t a scam, please report it to us. Students are encouraged to use the Outlook 'report-spam' add-in feature which is sent to us for review.
If you’re reporting an incident or an urgent cybersecurity event, please send an email to security@illinois.edu or call 217-265-0000, option 3 to reach a 24-7 on-call cybersecurity analyst. Other cybersecurity questions can be sent to securitysupport@illinois.edu.