According to the FBI's Philadelphia Field Office, more than 100 victims have been identified in the Philadelphia region.
The scammers reportedly contact students, claiming to be Chinese police officers and accusing them of financial crimes in China. The students are then pressured to pay large sums of money to avoid arrest.
"They come from hard-working families who pay for their tuition. They are here on authorized F-1 student visas," said Andrew Klopfer, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Philadelphia FBI Field Office. "And these are opportunists, fraudsters, who take advantage of that."
Klopfer said hundreds of students across the country have fallen victim to the scam over the past few years. The FBI is working to identify a man believed to be involved in multiple cases.
Victims are often instructed not to speak about the alleged investigation and are coerced into transferring money via wire or cryptocurrency. Payments have ranged from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands.
"It was so stressful and painful. I feel trapped and saw no escape from that situation," said one local victim in a public service announcement released by the FBI.
Both Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania have issued warnings about the scam this year. The FBI advises students who receive such calls to hang up immediately. If they feel threatened, they should call 911 and then contact the Philadelphia FBI office.
"We really empower the victims to come forward... it helps us investigate their case, protect them," Klopfer said. "But also helps us protect an additional layer of victims down the road."
In some cases, victims have been told to purchase new cell phones or relocate to hotels or short-term rentals to further isolate them, allowing the scammers to continue the extortion.
For more information or to report suspicious activity, students are encouraged to reach out to the FBI's Philadelphia Field Office.
They can report to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov or via phone at 1-800-Call-FBI.