Overview

• Shreya Bedi, a master’s student at Indiana University Bloomington on an F-1 visa, was told she violated immigration rules and pressured into buying $5,000 in gift cards.
• Scammers accessed her personal data, including academic records and entry details, and kept her on the phone for three hours to enforce ‘bond’ payments.
• Bedi has started a GoFundMe drive to recoup her losses and warns peers that genuine agencies never request gift cards or bank information.
• ICE issued a formal statement condemning the impersonation of its officers and warned that perpetrators face state and federal charges under 18 U.S.C. § 912.
• Security experts and reports note a rise in similar frauds alongside a spike in ICE arrests, which topped 2,200 detentions on June 5.