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Scams can happen anywhere, it seems. Kalamazoo College is the latest victim. (File)
(File)
KALAMAZOO, MI-- Kalamazoo College got scammed.
The personal information of about 1,600 students, staff and faculty of the college was mistakenly released when their IRS W2 forms were sent to a phony entity, college officials said Friday.
The president of the college notified the campus community Friday that the college had fallen victim to a "phishing" scam.
President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran, who said she learned of the incident Friday, wrote that late Thursday afternoon, a college employee received an email requesting employees' 2015 W2 forms.
"The email was designed to appear as though a Kalamazoo College administrator sent it," the president wrote. "Believing the email to be legitimate, the employee replied to the message and attached faculty, staff and student employees' 2015 W2s."
The college has notified the Michigan State Police, the FBI and the IRS, and the IRS will monitor affected employees' returns to prevent fraudulent tax refunds from being paid out.
Employees were advised to protect themselves as much as possible from theft of personal information, and to contact a credit reporting agency.
The college also is arranging for credit monitoring services for those affected.
Jim Van Sweden, director of communications for Kalamazoo College, confirmed that the letter from the president is legitimate, and that the college was, indeed, victimized.
"Yes, there was a pfishing scam that resulted in the loss of a lot of personal information," he said.
Jeffrey Palmer, associate director of communication at Kalamazoo College, said W2 forms include name, address, social security number, earnings-- "they pretty much got it all," he said.
The incidents affects only those current and former Kalamazoo College employees who were issued a W-2 for the 2015 tax year.
Although this is the first time the college has been hit, "the police tell us that this happens all the time to institutions large and small," Palmer said.
Rosemary Parker is a reporter with MLive. Contact her at rparker3@mlive.com.