{"id":1989,"date":"2020-04-15T13:26:47","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T12:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/goglobal\/?p=1989"},"modified":"2020-04-15T13:32:02","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T12:32:02","slug":"scam-alert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/goglobal\/2020\/04\/15\/scam-alert\/","title":{"rendered":"Scam Alert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some criminals are specifically targetting international students, telephoning them and pretending to be from a legitimate organisation (such as the UK Home Office, an education agent or even UKCISA). They demand money (calling it a &#8220;fine&#8221; for a non-existent immigration problem), and claim that if you do not pay them quickly, there will be damaging consequences (for example, deportation or cancelling your visa). <strong>These are scammers.<\/strong> The UK government authorities would never ask for money or fines to be paid this way.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>These criminals, and others, are now using the current global pandemic situation to exploit people\u2019s fear. Please be aware and even more careful when you receive any suspicious communications \u2013 postal, telephone, electronic, especially those asking for money for fines, penalties, surcharges or even charity! Whenever you receive communication from someone who you do not know, remember that it could be a scam. Criminals use all kinds of ways to trick you into paying them money, or giving them valuable information about yourself.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak in the UK, intelligence analysts have monitored a rapid escalation in criminals gangs using a range of scams. The National Cyber Security Centre has issued this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsc.gov.uk\/files\/Final%20Joint%20Advisory%20COVID-19%20exploited%20by%20malicious%20cyber%20actors%20v3.pdf\">advisory<\/a> \u2013 it is important that you read and understand it carefully, to be fully aware and protect yourself from being scammed by these fraudsters.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For more information, please see the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/frauds-tricks-and-scams\"><strong>Frauds, Tricks and Scams<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0webpage at Gov.uk.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If you think you might be a victim of fraud, you can report it to Action Fraud at <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionfraud.police.uk\/reporting-fraud-and-cyber-crime\">https:\/\/www.actionfraud.police.uk\/reporting-fraud-and-cyber-crime<\/a><\/strong> or by calling 0300 123 2040.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In case you have any concerns and would like to speak to an adviser, we\u00a0are available on Skype (@ SHUISST) Monday to Friday 11am-12pm and 2-4pm. Just send us a message with your student number and we will call you back &#8211; no need to book!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>International Experience Team<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Some criminals are specifically targetting international students, telephoning them and pretending to be from a legitimate organisation (such as the UK Home Office, an education <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/goglobal\/2020\/04\/15\/scam-alert\/\" title=\"Scam Alert\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":351,"featured_media":1994,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/goglobal\/files\/2020\/04\/Scam-Alert-2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phg6as-w5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/goglobal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/goglobal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/goglobal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/goglobal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1989"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/goglobal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1992,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/goglobal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989\/revisions\/1992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/goglobal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/goglobal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/goglobal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/goglobal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}