A U. of I. student reported that she attempted to purchase a ticket being offered for sale through the social media app GroupMe. The student paid $100 for the ticket via a mobile banking app, and later called police when she noticed that the same person was continuing to sell the same concert ticket on […]

A U. of I. student reported that he was the victim of sexual extortion in 2021, when an unknown person obtained intimate images of the student and threatened to post them to social media unless the student paid money. On Oct. 4, 2023, the same person contacted the student again to repeat the threat and […]

A U. of I. student reported that he entered a video chat with an unknown person after matching with them on a dating app named Bumble. The unknown person encouraged the student to engage in intimate acts during the video chat. After the chat ended, the unknown person demanded money under the threat of sending […]

A U. of I. student reported that he was invited to chat on Instagram by an unknown person. The conversation became sexual in nature, and the unknown person invited the student into a video chat to perform intimate acts. When the video chat ended, the unknown person demanded money under threat of sending the video […]

A U. of I. student reported that he was invited to chat on Instagram by an unknown person. The conversation became sexual in nature, and the unknown person invited the student into a video chat to perform intimate acts. When the video chat ended, the unknown person instructed the student to send $1,000 under threat […]

A U. of I. student reported that he attempted to purchase an iPhone being offered for $500 on the OfferUp app. The student contacted the seller and ultimately paid for the phone using a mobile banking app, but the phone was never shipped.

A U. of I. student was at work and received a phone call from a person purporting to be the business owner. The fake owner said that the student was expecting a package and needed to pay costs associated with it. The fake owner requested that the student send a total of $1,140 in two […]

A U. of I. student reported that she contacted an unknown person on Facebook after seeing an ad that the person was offering a free laptop computer to anyone who paid the shipping costs. The student sent $62 via an online payment app for shipping. The scammer indicated that she needed another $50, which the […]

A U. of I. student reported that he attempted to sell a pair of shoes on Instagram and received a message from an unknown person who purported that they were interested in buying the shoes. The faker buyer claimed she needed $200 to pay a Venmo fee so that she could proceed with sending the […]

A U. of I. student reported that she was contacted via social media platform WeChat by a person who said that they ran a service which could provide a discount on the student’s tuition. The scammer directed the student to provide access to her university accounts, and also pay $26,800 to the scammer. In return, […]