DON'T answer the phone! (Avoiding scams)

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

11:30 AM – 12:20 PM EST

Location: Commonwealth 3

Chair and Presenter(s)

Delores Blough, JD (she/her/hers)

Director, Office of International Services
University of Pittsburgh Office of International Services
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Slides

Presenter(s)

Sarah Carrier (she/her/hers)

Associate Director of Global Learning
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, Virginia

Co-Presenter(s)

Rachel Spence (she/her/hers)

Academic Manager
George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia

Presentation Description: The scams targeting international students and scholars have hit some of our institutions hard in the past several years. The presenters are aware of over $250,000 lost to their institutions' students and scholars in the previous year alone, and that is just what has been reported to us. This interactive session will provide an overview of the most common types of scams currently targeting our constituents, and discuss the ways various institutions are attempting to tackle the problem.

Learning Objectives:

Identify the recurrent scams targeting our international populations in the previous few years and anticipate what may be coming in the future.
Recognize and describe the most common characteristics of many scams; i.e., identify when a phone call/email/video chat is a scam.
Develop or enhance an institutional plan to address potential scams targeting their campus.