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Texas A&M Police warn of scammers claiming detained students, demanding payments

Police say that the scammers are calling Aggie parents and demanding payments by Venmo or that their student will be taken to jail.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — On Monday, the Texas A&M University Police Department received several reports that scammers called Aggie parents claiming to be university police officers, and informing them that they'd detained their student.

"This isn't the first time we've had this type of I think we had one back in September of 2018,"  Texas A&M PD officer Robert Leseth said. "We had a similar kind of chain of events, but they usually come in waves."

The police department says these scammers are demanding different forms of electronic payments, or otherwise, the student will be sent to jail. Luckily there are a few tell-tale signs to identify these types of criminals.

"There's that sense of urgency, right? They want you to pay and are trying to coerce you, using alternative payment methods," Leseth said. "Think of Venmo, Apple Pay, Gift cards, and things like that."

According to officers in the department, impersonating a public servant is a 3rd-degree felony, while theft would be a Class-A misdemeanor based on how much money the scammer is asking for.

"I just think it's important to know that if you're feeling weird about a phone call with a law enforcement entity, hang up and call the non-emergency line," Leseth said. "Try and speak to the officer again to verify that there's no nothing wrong with it."

Authorities are encouraging the public to call 979-845-2345 to verify if the information presented by a caller claiming to be representing Texas A&M Police is true.

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