RICHMOND, Va. — VCU Police are warning the community after identifying a worrying trend on campus.
Scammers have offered money to roughly a dozen students over social media to use their photos, according to VCU Police officer Nick Champigny with VCU Police.
Then, the scammers send a fraudulent check to the victim for more than the agreed-upon amount. The victim is told to deposit the check and send the difference back. Financial institutions then flag the checks as fraudulent, VCU Police said.
The scammers then attempt to intimidate victims to get the money back or request more, sending explicit images and threats.
“It’s shocking when you’re getting sent some of these images, and they’re tailing that with ‘I’m a hired assassin, and I’ve been paid to come find you because you didn’t follow through with our agreement,’” Champigny said.
Students are then out $2,000 or more for the fraudulent check and whatever money they have now sent to the scammers.
“It sounds too good to be true,” Champigny said. “If they just took a second to be like, ‘This probably doesn’t sound legitimate.’ It probably wouldn’t take much to kind of vet this and be like, ‘This profile is not legitimate.’”
Police are asking students and the public to do their research before responding to anyone they don’t know.
They advise to report the account if it isn’t linked to a legitimate website or business.
“Be wary of any online solicitation for money because if they can’t physically hold the check and bring it to a bank to deposit it, it’s probably fraudulent,” Champigny said.
VCU Police are investigating these cases.
If you suspect fraud, alert your local law enforcement agency immediately. VCU Community members can report incidents like this to the VCU Police Investigations team at (804) 828-6409 or via the LiveSafe app.
Anyone who attempted to deposit a possibly fraudulent check should contact their financial institution immediately, police said.
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