An unknown person contacted a U. of I. student through social media and encouraged him to send intimate photos of himself. The offender then threatened to send those photos to the student’s social media contacts unless he paid $500. The student complied.

A U. of I. student reported that he was the victim of an internet-based scam between Feb. 19-22. The student was contacted via social media by someone purporting to be an artist offering money to use one of the student’s photos in a project. The scammer told the student that the client would send a $2,000 check to the student, and the student was to return a portion of that money to the scammer to pay for materials. The student paid $200 to the scammer before realizing that the check had bounced.

An unknown person sent a U. of I. employee a text message suggesting that the employee’s credit card had been compromised. Upon calling the provided phone number, the employee was instructed to transfer all of the money in his checking account to a new account. The employee authorized the transfer of $5,017 into an unknown account.

A U. of I. student reported that he had been the victim of an ongoing extortion scam between December 2021 and Feb. 17. After communicating with an unknown person through a dating app, the purported father of that unknown person called the student to say that the student had been communicating with a minor. The father demanded money under the threat of contacting the police. Several other demands for money were made over time, with the student paying a total of $4,500. The student later discovered that none of the claims were true.