By James Herold
On Aug. 5, around 7:30 p.m., Grand Rapids Community College Police were dispatched to a report via text of a suspicious situation. Dispatch advised that a woman called to report that she had received an email from the GRCC Enrollment Center that she thought was suspicious.
GRCC officers spoke with the woman over text, and she said that she was concerned about an email she received that night at 7:01 p.m. from the GRCC Enrollment Center which stated that she may have financial aid available for the coming school year. She stated that she was worried the email was fraudulent because she has not applied to GRCC, and currently lives in Indianapolis, Indiana. She was also worried someone had registered for classes in her name. The email in question was sent from a GRCC email address. The woman was asked if she has ever been a student at GRCC, and she stated that she has not. She said that she applied to GRCC in 2007, but never attended.
GRCC Police looked up the email and the name associated with the email, and confirmed the address is a legitimate GRCC email. The woman sent GRCC Police a copy of the email, and it appeared to be a common mass email that is sent to students who have not registered for classes before the year starts.
Officers advised the woman that they would follow up with an Enrollment Center Administrator on Monday, Aug. 8 to investigate the email. GRCC police also advised her that an information report would be written, and would be investigated as a fraud if it was found that someone registered for classes using her information. The woman said she would call FSA (Federal Student Aid) support to ask if there was any new activity on her account.
GRCC Police received an email from the woman at 7:53 p.m. stating there was no new activity on her student loan profile, and that there was no fraud on her FSA ID account.
On Aug. 8, GRCC Police received another email from the woman. She said to disregard the situation, as she received an email forwarded from an enrollment center administrator advising all parties to disregard the previous email that was sent. The administrator stated that the original email was forwarded by accident. No further actions were taken.
