Student Visa Holder Tricked by Fake ICE Agent Scam, Loses Thousands
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A woman told Newsweek that she was deceived by scammers posing as officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Shreya Bedi, a UI Designer and international student from India, came to the United States on an F-1 visa in 2022 to pursue a Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction at Indiana University Bloomington.
The impostors convinced her that she was violating immigration laws and pressured her into purchasing $5,000 worth of gift cards as "bond" payments to avoid arrest and deportation.
"I was absolutely terrified and crying the entire time," Bedi said.
Under President Donald Trump's administration, ICE has ramped up arrests across the country. Amid increased enforcement action under Trump's administration, there has also been a rise in reports of individuals impersonating ICE agents.
Bedi aspires to work at a product company as a UX designer. But her path was upended after a single phone call on May 29, which disrupted her life and sent her spiraling deeper into a scam operation.
The scammer told her she hadn't reported her administration number and was violating immigration laws.
Shreya Bedi, a UI Designer and international student from India came to the U.S. on an F1 visa in 2022 to pursue a Master's in Human-Computer Interaction at Indiana University Bloomington.
Shreya Bedi, a UI Designer and international student from India came to the U.S. on an F1 visa in 2022 to pursue a Master's in Human-Computer Interaction at Indiana University Bloomington.
"He gave me his name and badge number and told me to verify his office details by going to ice.gov and looking up the office in Maryland. I could confirm it was the same phone number he was calling from," Bedi said.
The scammer warned Bedi not to hang up and not to contact anyone, saying that her phone was being monitored. To appear more credible, a second scammer called from a spoofed number, claiming to be from the Olympia Police Department, and said that there was a warrant for her arrest unless ICE confirmed her case was under investigation.
An ICE Spokesperson told Newsweek, "ICE strongly condemns the impersonation of its officers or agents. This action is not only dangerous, but illegal. Imposters can be charged with various criminal offenses both at the state/local level, as well as federally (under 18 USC 912)."
Bedi said: "I felt completely trapped because they kept me on the phone for three hours straight, repeatedly warning me that hanging up or contacting anyone would violate my case and make things worse. I was too scared to risk it."
She was instructed to buy Apple and Target gift cards totaling $5,000 and to share the codes over the phone. The scammers told her a police officer would collect the cards and bond papers the next day, but that call never came.
It was only on her way home that she began to suspect that she had been scammed. She spoke with her friend Suyash, who did some research and discovered similar incidents shared on social media.
"They put me through hours of psychological torture, making me believe I was going to be deported and arrested," Bedi said.
What made the fraud conceivable was the depth of personal information the caller had obtained. They knew her port of entry, academic background, where she is from in India, and where she studied her master's degree.
"They had so many of my personal details that only official agencies would know," she said.
The financial toll has been devastating as Bedi, who is already paying off student loans, now faces an additional $5,000 in credit card debt,
"I'm living alone in the U.S. with no family support. This money was supposed to help me stay afloat and plan my future here," she said.
"It completely derailed my plans. This affects everything—my ability to save money, my timeline for either returning to India or applying for an H1B visa."
Bedi is now trying to raise funds on GoFundMe and warns other international students to remain vigilant.
"You always have the right to hang up and call a lawyer, government agencies almost never call you directly; they send official mail," she said. "No legitimate government agency will ever ask for gift cards, bank details, or your Social Security number over the phone. If someone asks for any of these things, it's definitely a scam."
"As international students, we don't fully understand how the system works here, which makes us easy targets. I feel embarrassed that I fell for this, but I want others to learn from my mistake."
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