• Rich Barlow

    Senior Writer

    Photo: Headshot of Rich Barlow, an older white man with dark grey hair and wearing a grey shirt and grey-blue blazer, smiles and poses in front of a dark grey backdrop.

    Rich Barlow is a senior writer at BU Today and Bostonia magazine. Perhaps the only native of Trenton, N.J., who will volunteer his birthplace without police interrogation, he graduated from Dartmouth College, spent 20 years as a small-town newspaper reporter, and is a former Boston Globe religion columnist, book reviewer, and occasional op-ed contributor. Profile

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There are 12 comments on Phone Scam Nets Almost $2,000 from BU Student

  1. There are humanitarian reasons for not jailing people for indebtedness, but also practical reasons. Jailing people is hugely expensive for the taxpayers. It would make more sense to use taxpayer money to give debters jobs; such as to do important infrastructure or community projects.

  2. Pretty disappointed that our students are not smart enough to do a quick Google search and assess if the threat is real or a scam. Even if they asked a staff or fellow students they would not have become victims.

    1. I agree with you Jay, but being a foreigner they are probably afraid that they overlooked something regarding tax issues, but still they should always consult someone at the university who can check for them legitimately. It’s sad no matter how you look at it.

  3. I feel terrible for the victim. I read a similar case reported to Callercenter.com and it’s sad what these phone scammers do to victims. Why are these people never caught?

    1. Why aren’t they caught? Mostly because most of these calls originate outside of the USA, and the phone numbers that show up on Caller ID are faked. Once the money is taken off the card, it’s most likely gone for good.
      Most of these type scams used to originate from Nigeria, but they are all over the world and even in the US at this point.

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