In recent months, some Warwick students have fallen victim to financial scams, so we wanted to reiterate our advice to help students avoid this situation.

Example of scams have included the targeting of Tier 4 Visa students by somebody purporting to represent the Home Office and fraudulent individuals advertising tuition or accommodation fee payment or investment services.

The British Council’s advice on frauds and scams states: “some criminals specifically target international students, telephoning them and pretending to be from a legitimate organisation (such as the UK Police, Chinese/international police, the UK Home Office). They demand money (calling it a ‘fine’ for a non-existent immigration problem), and claim that if you do not pay them quickly, there will be damaging consequences (for example, deportation or cancelling your visa)”. ( British Council – Creating Confidence 2017-18). 

Our advice is to never give money in response to such demands and to contact University Security or the International Student Office for advice if you are approached in this way.