A complex new scam is targeting international students and their families.

According to the University Police Department, the scam involves international students being told they are implicated in crimes back home. The scammers coerce victims into a series of actions and threaten to harm family members in their home country.

Simultaneously, family members overseas are informed by the scammers that their relative has been kidnapped and will only be released if a large sum of money is paid. In each case, the scammers communicate with the victims in their native language and falsely claim to be government officials from the student’s home country.

Similar version of this scam have been reported worldwide, including Canada and Australia. Students and family members should know that embassy or consulate officials will not advise of legal cases or seek to verify personal information over the phone.

University of Nebraska–Lincoln administrators are advising students and family members who believe they are being or have been scammed to contact university police or a consulate immediately.

Learn more about how to report scams and protect yourself from them.

Scam protection 101

Here are six tips on how students can protect themselves from becoming victims of scams.

• If you get cold called by someone making threats about arrest or deportation, it is a scam. Do not send money. Instead, hang up the phone immediately and report it to police.

• Never give personal, credit card, passport or online account details over the phone unless you made the call and the phone number came from a trusted source.

• If you provided bank account details to a scammer, contact the bank or financial institution immediately.

• Keep address and contact information up to date in MyRed.

• When dealing with uninvited contacts from people or businesses, whether it’s over the phone, by mail, fax, email, in person or on a social networking site, always consider the possibility that the approach may be a scam.

• Scamwatch, a website curated by the Australian government, is a great resource to find information about scams. The website presents scam details in multiple languages.