Dear Students,
The UNSW community is on high alert for scams that are targeting international students.
Scams can cause significant financial loss to victims and long-term impacts on wellbeing, mental health, and safety. This is an important reminder to our community to stay vigilant. Learn more about the different types of scams and how to protect yourself in this article.
Financial scams involve taking money or other assets from you through deception or criminal activity. Scammers may pose as government officials who require transfers of large sums of money with threats of deportation and imprisonment if victims fail to cooperate.
Beware of the following:
- Urgent requests from unknown sources to transfer money due to a crisis in your home country.
- Big purchases where cash is requested instead of a bank transfer. Paying with cash means there is no record of your purchase.
- If you think someone has your bank details, please contact your bank or financial institution as soon as possible.
- The Australian Tax Office (ATO) does not suspend Tax File Numbers (TFN) and will never request you pay a fine or transfer money to protect your TFN. The ATO will never threaten you with immediate arrest or demand payment through unusual means. Click here for details on ATO scams.
- Before leaving Australia permanently, you should close your bank accounts. Do not allow other people to use your accounts. If these accounts are used for illegal activities, you may be blamed for the crime being committed.
Australian Government officials will never ask you to share your personal details or transfer money over the phone, or advise you not to contact anyone. If you receive a call like this, hang up the phone immediately and report it. Do not send them any money or provide your personal, credit card or online account details over the phone.
- Always beware of random calls you are not expecting or a number you don’t know. Confirm who you are talking to.
- If you receive a suspicious phone call, do not provide any of your information and hang up.
- Be suspicious of random job offers especially if you have not applied for them, where it is difficult to verify the existence of the company or the person offering the job.
Don’t open the links and attachments from suspicious emails or from something you did not subscribe to.
Beware of phone calls, emails, SMS, and social media text messages stating you have won competitions and prizes. If you click on the links or respond, you may fall for a scam. You may be charged at premium rates or find yourself signed up to a subscription service.
Chinese authority scams are specifically targeting the Chinese community, including students studying in Australia. These scams involve fraud, extortion and threats of arrest, with scammers pretending to be from the Chinese authority.
A scammer speaking Mandarin will call directly or leave an ‘urgent’ voice message to call back. The scammer may pretend to be from a Chinese authority such as the police, a government or immigration official, or a parcel delivery service.
They may claim and threaten students that:
- The Australian Government will arrest or deport you due to a problem with your visa
- Your identity has been stolen or hacked and used for illegal activity
- They have intercepted a package addressed to you with illegal materials such as fake passports or credit cards
- You will be extradited back to China to face criminal charges unless money is sent to them to prove your innocence.
You can read more about Chinese authority scams here. This content is also available in simplified Chinese (简体中文). Members of our Chinese community in Australia can also report the scam.
The imposter will accuse their victims of criminal activity. They will threaten the victim and their family with criminal sanctions unless they pretend they have been kidnapped, including by taking photos of themselves. Scammers will use this photos to extort money from the victim’s family. You can read more about virtual kidnappings here.
Support Available
We understand this may be very distressing to students. If you think you have been a victim of a scam, support is here.
- If you are a victim of fraud, going to the Australian police will not impact your visa status. You can call the police on 131 444 to report a scam.
- If you know someone who is the victim of fraud, be supportive and encourage them to contact the police on 131 444 to report a scam.
- If you think the scammer has your bank account details, contact your bank immediately.
- Report the scam to Scamwatch.
- Reach out to our caring and professional Student Wellbeing Team for help.
Please reach out for support if you need it and spread the message to your peers.
Take care,
UNSW College
