Crime alert sent in response to threats

A campus-wide e-mail sent Tuesday warned all students of an unknown caller seeking personal information.

“Our campus started receiving hundreds of phone calls, all from the same number,” TCU Police detective Kelly Ham said.

He said the caller, whose gender was not determined, claimed to be with the “College Security Office.”

“They would say something like their financial aid needs to be turned in,” Ham said.
Ham said the caller then demanded information like social security numbers and credit card numbers.

Ham said he traced the call back to a J. Harmon and S. Harmon in Parkland, Fla., and then got in touch with a local Florida detective.

“By the time I called, the FBI and Secret Service had already been contacted,” Ham said. “The name I traced was real, but their number had been stolen.”

Other universities and individual residences were called as well, Ham said.

To avoid the risk of possible identity thefts, do not give out personal information to strangers, Ham said.

—Danny Gillham