A relative of a UW-Madison student wired $4,000 to Peru after a caller impersonating the student said she needed money to be bailed out of jail.
On Feb. 27, an uncle of a UW-Madison student received a panicked phone call from someone impersonating his 22-year-old niece who said she was arrested after getting into a car with a man in possession of narcotics, according to Madison Police Department spokesperson Joel DeSpain.
DeSpain said “Michael Obozner,” a man claiming to be her lawyer, then asked the student’s uncle to send $2,225 via Western Union for his niece’s bail.
Shortly after the student’s uncle received a second call from “Michael Williams” who claimed to be an associate of Obozner at the U.S. Embassy in Lima, according to police. Williams said the man’s niece required another $1,985 to pay a fine.
Police said the uncle promptly wired the money to Lima, but contacted a friend with connections to see whether or not Obozner and Williams truly worked for the embassy in Lima.
After discovering that neither name was connected to the embassy, the uncle called the MPD, who advised him to file a fraud report with the FBI.
UW-Madison Communications spokesperson John Lucas said while the student had previously studied abroad, she was not in Peru when the scammers called her uncle.
Lucas said the university will investigate to see if the student’s personal information was compromised and will educate students on the dangers of scams while studying abroad.
