BOZEMAN – A timely message was sent out by Montana State to warn students, faculty, and staff about a scam going around campus.
“Scammers are sending people envelopes that appear to be coming from MSU they are being asked to deposit cash into their accounts and then send back gift cars and money to the scammers," said Michael Becker, the News Director for the MSU News Service.
University police say they received 6 reports of the scam.
This type of scheme is a popular one and has been done before.
"Checks are usually the front line of what we deal with a lot because they are easy to alter and they don’t have a lot of the security features that currency does," said Robert Vanuka, a detective with the Bozeman Police Department.
Detective Vanuka says that if any situation involves a transfer of money to an unknown party should bring up red flags.
"If it’s too good to be true, especially online, and your only correspondence is with somebody online is suspect and verify information," said Vanuka
The MSU check scam isn’t the only one floating around.
Police say this time of year they see all types of scams because it is tax season.
"People posing as the IRS, people posing as law enforcement.
Indicating that either there is an arrest warrant because you didn’t pay your taxes, or you didn’t show up for jury duty, or some type of summons, and to quickly quash that warrant you can quickly pay it right over the phone," said Vanuka.
If you do receive a call like this remember that these agencies will not ask for money over the phone.
If you experience any of these types of scams you can report it to the Bozeman Police Department.
