Fraudsters Target USF Students With 'Helping Orphans' Scam

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — College students in St. Petersburg and across Florida are being targeted by fraud suspects impersonating employees of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), University of South Florida St. Petersburg Police said.

Spoofed emails and fraudulent checks are being used to defraud university students, investigators said. Several incidents have been reported to authorities throughout the state. Students should be aware that the fraudsters' emails are being sent to their college email address disguised as another student's email address from the same college. The message is usually about an internship or job with UNICEF.

Checks are then mailed by the fraudsters to the students with additional funds allegedly intended to purchase items for foster homes or orphanages on behalf of UNICEF. After the students deposit the checks into a personal banking account, the fraudsters direct the students to purchase cryptocurrency or gift cards. The funds are then transferred to another financial account, according to investigators. Financial institutions told detectives the checks are fraudulent.

Law enforcement officials said that many of these emails have grammatical and spelling errors, requests for personal information or originated from domains that are not organization specific.

If you have been a victim of this scam or want more information, contact the Federal Trade Commission.