International students swindled out of £105,000

Two international students have been scammed out of £105,000 in Northern Ireland.

The PSNI said it is working with Queen’s and Ulster University to raise awareness of criminals targeting students.

Both students were contacted by the scammers recently, police have said.

One student was told by a person posing as a Chinese police officer to transfer £70,000.

Another student was threatened with prison if £35,000 was not transferred into an account after getting a call from a fraudster claiming to be from the “Chinese Embassy”.

Chair of Scamwise NI partnership, Superintendent Gerard Pollock, said: “Sadly, this is a new version of a scam we have seen before, where fraudsters pose as police officers or government officials to con people out of money.

“Now the criminals are posing as international police officers and government officials to target international students.

“The huge sums of money lost by these students are eye-watering but, unfortunately, all the criminals see is their gain.

“I believe other students, both here and elsewhere in the UK, may have received these calls and could have lost substantial amounts of money.

“Scammers will stop at nothing to trick you out of money with these calls, for your loss and their gain.

“The easiest way to stop it is to apply these five rules – always hang up the call immediately; always delete texts requesting personal information or bank account details; never call the number back; never click on links in text, or respond to unsolicited texts; never ever transfer money to another account.

“So, it’s important to make clear you should never transfer money to another account having received a call from someone you do not know. Hang up the call.”