The threat of students being mislead and scammed out of money by criminals is real and prevalent on collegiate campuses.

Each year, two to three N.C. State students fall victim to Internet and non-Internet related scams, Sgt. Jon Barnwell of Campus Police said.

Last month a student was mislead about a prospective roommate, and was scammed out of $4,655.

The student, whom Barnwell wouldn’t identify, was advised to stop all correspondence with the perpetrators of the scam. The U.S. Treasury office is investigating the case.

“We want students to use their good common sense in deciding whether or not an offer is legitimate or not,” Barnwell said. “If an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

According to Barnwell, the student placed an advertisement for a roommate in a newspaper at the beginning of the semester. He was contacted via the Internet by three individuals who claimed to be from Nigeria and wished to accept his request.

The individuals sent the student a check to cover the rent of the apartment, but the amount of the check was more than the cost of the room. The individuals requested the student cash the check, keep the amount of the rent and send them the difference, which the student did.

“Both the check and the bank it was supposedly from [City National Bank in Florida] were illegitimate,” Barnwell said. “These individuals were hoping to take the student’s money and then let him get in trouble for their scam.”

This is the first N.C. State student to fall victim to this sort of scam, but Campus Police urges students to remain vigilant and not give their personal information to suspicious persons.

“It’s a shame, but he should have been more careful about who he gave information to,” Matt Major, sophomore in First Year College, said. “Hopefully it won’t happen to anyone else.”

The University has a strict policy regarding solicitation on campus, Barnwell said, adding that no one is allowed to solicit on campus without a permit from the Student Organization Resource Center and that the solicitor must also be sponsored by a student organization.

“Students should ask questions to solicitors on campus to make sure that they are legitimate,” Barnwell said. “They also should be aware and use their good common sense to deduce scams online.”