Warning Message Sent to Students

Responding to complaints of suspicious calls, University Information Systems (UIS) dispatched a broadcast voice mail message Monday to alert about 12,000 students, staff and faculty members of recent phone scams.

"We try not to send special announcements since they can be annoying, but we felt it was quite warranted yesterday," said Patricia A. Murphy, manager of communications for UIS.

The voice mail messages were sent to discourage students and staff from transferring callers who identified themselves as Nynex or Harvard employees, accepting collect calls from people they did not know and responding to messages requesting them to call back at a "toll-free" number that would charge callers $25 to $50 for 30 seconds, according to Murphy.

"The voice mail was pretty self-explanatory," said Jess Montalvo '00. "I wouldn't have done anything like that in the first place, but reminders can be helpful."

Murphy said she does not know of any students who were contacted by scam artists, but that the broadcast was a protective measure because residents of Burlington, Mass., were recently barraged by such calls.

Nynex officials said people should notify the police if they receive suspicious calls.

"People should react by hanging up immediately the moment they feel uncomfortable during an incoming call and call the police," said Nynex Regional Director of Public Affairs Peter T. Bowman.