ISSS wants to help all of our international visitors avoid being the victim of a scam. Encountering a scam is unfortunately something that is experienced by nearly everyone in the U.S., including international visitors.
Be aware of these common scams:
- Immigration scams: Someone claiming to be a US immigration official or an official from another government.
- Tax scams: Someone claiming to be from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) saying you owe money.
- Employment scams: Someone claiming to find a job for you if you pay them money (see section below).
- Tuition scams: Someone claiming to provide a tuition discount if you use their service.
- Craigslist scams: Someone claiming they want to buy your item very urgently.
- Apartment rental scams: Someone claiming to want to rent your apartment, with no actual interest in doing so.
- Relationship scams: Someone pretending to be in a dating relationship through text or phone call, who wants money to meet in person.
- Kidnapping scams: Someone calls your parents, grandparents, or a loved one and claims that they have kidnapped you and want ransom money in exchange for your life.
- Home country scams: Someone calls and tells you that they have some damaging information about your family in your home country. They speak in your native language and claim that they will help your family if you send money overseas.
- Social Security Number (SSN) scams: Someone calls and tells you that your SSN has been compromised. They ask you to provide personal information in order to help you.
Phishing Emails
Scammers may also try to get your sensitive information through email. This is called
phishing. Phishing is “the activity of defrauding an online account holder of financial information by posing as a legitimate company.”
Do not send sensitive information by email or by clicking on a fake link in an email.As a reminder, if you receive a suspicious email, or know an email is a phishing attempt, your best course of action is to
forward the email as an attachment to TAMU IT at
helpdesk@tamu.edu. With the email highlighted in your inbox or open, press Ctrl + Alt + F. This will open a new email with the suspicious email as an attachment. Forward this to
helpdesk@tamu.edu.*If you pay scammer, you lose the money. If you provide them sensitive information, you may become the victim of identity theft.Cyber Attacks Targeting TAMU Duo Accounts
Don't Approve an Unexpected Duo "Push"Texas A&M University is seeing a sharp increase in email phishing attempts, especially surrounding COVID. Previously, a sophisticated phishing attack tricked campus members into logging in to a spoofed Texas A&M website to view COVID test results. The hackers then used the stolen login information to add their own devices and phone numbers to the compromised Duo accounts.
Don't let phishing attempts compromise your Texas A&M account.
- If you receive a Duo "push" login request when you aren’t expecting one — especially if you're not actively logging in to an application or system — do not approve it.
- Review your Duo settings to make sure you recognize all the enrolled devices.
- Report any suspicious activity to Help Desk Central (helpdesk@tamu.edu or (979) 845-8300) with the date and time.
Remember to scrutinize all messages and look for
signs of phishing attempts. Before logging in to a campus service, always double-check website URLs.
If you have questions about
Duo, are unsure if a message is legitimate or identify a phishing attempt, email
Help Desk Central at
helpdesk@tamu.edu or call (979) 845-8300.
