By Yahind.Com Staff
Shreya Bedi, a Master’s student at Indiana University Bloomington, was defrauded of $5,000 by scammers posing as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. On May 29, 2025, Bedi received a call from an individual claiming to be an ICE officer, accusing her of violating immigration laws and threatening immediate arrest and deportation. The caller provided a name and badge number, instructing her to verify them on ice.gov, where the phone number matched an ICE office in Maryland. A second caller, impersonating an Olympia Police Department officer, claimed an active arrest warrant existed, keeping her on the phone for three hours and warning her against contacting anyone. The scammers coerced her into purchasing $5,000 worth of Apple and Target gift cards as “bond” payments to avoid arrest, demanding she share the card codes immediately.
Bedi, who arrived in the U.S. in 2022 on an F-1 visa, complied, intimidated by the scammers’ detailed knowledge of her personal information, including her hometown in India, U.S. entry details, and academic records. Speaking to Media, she shared her ordeal to warn others, emphasizing that legitimate U.S. government agencies communicate through official mail and never request payments via gift cards, bank details, or Social Security numbers. She advised international students to hang up and consult a lawyer if they receive such calls, highlighting their vulnerability due to limited familiarity with U.S. systems. Bedi is now seeking to recover her losses through a GoFundMe campaign.
This scam comes amid a reported rise in ICE impersonation frauds, with over 2,200 ICE detentions recorded on June 5, 2025, fueling anxiety in migrant communities. Yahind.Com urges students to stay vigilant and report suspicious calls to authorities immediately.
