Some Northwestern freshman are being targeted by scammers whoask students to give personal information to callers to their dormrooms and through e-mails that advertise monetary grants or creditdiscounts.
The anonymous calls and e-mails use students’ personalinformation to commit identity fraud — and the scams are notlimited to NU students.
On the U.S. Department of Education’s Web site, a message fromthe Office of the Inspector General warns students aboutscholarship or grant fraud. At King’s College in Wilkes-Barre,Penn., an Internet message states that scammers are offering thesame grants that tried to tempt Medill freshman Jason Gumer.
Gumer said he received a phone call from a man who claimed to beworking for a government educational grant agency. The man offeredhim an $8,000 grant if Gumer could verify his personalinformation.
“I got a phone call from a guy with a heavy accent, and the guyasked if a certain name was here, and the name was unintelligible,and I said no one by that name was living here,” Gumer said. “Hesaid, ‘I am calling about a government education grant that youqualified for and I need to get some information from you.'”
Jordana Beebe, communications director of Privacy RightsClearinghouse, a San Diego-based consumer advocacy group, saidGumer’s story sounds familiar.
“If someone is trying to give out free money, usually thosethings don’t exist,” Beebe said.
She advises students to be wary of unexpected callers that seekpersonal information. She said students should ask suspiciouscallers for their phone number and office location, so it is easierfor law enforcement to track down the perpetrator.
A few weeks ago in his Law in the Political Arena class,political science Lecturer Mark Iris cautioned students to bewareof identity scams because he had heard they were on this rise thisyear.
Medill freshman Angela Hiatt also received a call. Hiatt saidshe relented and gave a representative some personal informationexpecting to receive something in the mail from the companyshortly.
“I just think people need to become more aware and realize itcan happen to you,” she said. “I am from Montana, so I am not usedto this kind of stuff. I didn’t think there were people out therethat wanted to hurt other people, but there are.”
Beebe said scammers asking for personal information, and usingit illegally, are committing identification fraud. She said thesepeople are looking for “fast money” and typically use personalinformation, such as bank routing information or social securitynumbers to either remove money from personal bank accounts, or toinitiate credit card applications. Scammers then use the creditcard in the victims name, damaging the credit of the person whoseinformation is being used.
Any student who feels that his or her personal information –especially Social Security Number — has been compromised, shouldcontact the local police and file a “fraud alert,” Beebe said.
University Police has not received many calls concerning IDtheft this school year, though officers are familiar with it. UPencourages students to report suspicious calls by contacting themat 847-491-3456.
Reach Robert Stein at [email protected].
PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY
If you think your identity has been stolen:
Contact the fraud departments of any of the three majorcredit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and Trans Union).
Close accounts you know or believe have been tampered withor opened fraudulently.
File a police report with University Police. Get a copy ofthe report for your creditors.
File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. TheFTC maintains a database of identity theft cases used by lawenforcement agencies for investigations.
