An Indian student, Shreya Bedi, in the US was scammed by imposters posing as ICE agents, who coerced her into buying $5,000 in gift cards. Facing financial difficulties, she warns others about such scams and emphasises the importance of skepticism.
An Indian student in the United States was duped by scammers pretending to be Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, reported Newsweek.
Shreya Bedi, a Master’s student at Indiana University Bloomington came to the United States in 2022 on an F-1 visa.
She received the call on May 29th when the imposters said that she had violated immigration laws and forced her to purchase $5000 worth of gift cards as ‘bond’ payments in order to avoid arrest and deportation.
“He gave me his name and badge number and told me to verify his office details by going to ice.gov and looking up the office in Maryland. I could confirm it was the same phone number he was calling from,” Bedi said.
Subsequently, she received a second phone call from someone else posing as an officer from Olympia Police Department, and she was told not to disconnect the call as her phone was being monitored. They said that there was an arrest warrant for her.
“I felt completely trapped because they kept me on the phone for three hours straight, repeatedly warning me that hanging up or contacting anyone would violate my case and make things worse. I was too scared to risk it,” said Bedi.
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