When a server in the IT department was hacked on Saturday, several female students received a suspicious email, and Campus Police couldn’t assist.
At 2:32 p.m. on June 23, an email signed by N.C. State University Human Resources went out to an unknown number of female students. The message heading read, “NANNY NEEDED FOR RETTA,” and came from [email protected], a common email address for administrative mass mails.
The email continued to say that the recipient had been recommended for a nannying position of a family’s newborn baby girl.
“They would prefer applicant to be able to take care of her at their rented suite to ensure that her safety and comfort is guaranteed,” the message read. “They would give a high preference to candidate who has a high sense of humor and would be able to make their little daughter laugh always.”
According to the Wolfpack Students page on Facebook, not many replied to the email, suspicious of the location of the job. Those who did reply gave access to their personal information, and Campus Police was contacted.
Officer Sutton, public safety supervisor, said his hands were tied.
“Because there was no money exchange, there’s nothing we can do,” Sutton said.
While Sutton admitted the email was “sketchy,” he said Campus Police couldn’t do anything about the email because it was not technically a crime. The Raleigh Police Department had a different opinion.
Officer Adrienne Brooks Elsenity said she was surprised Campus Police were unwilling to file a report.
“This is really a campus issue-I would encourage someone to speak to a supervisor,” Elsenity said.
Raleigh P.D. filed a report detailing the wording of the email as well as the name of the personal account all replies went to.
Becca Cook, sophomore in elementary education, was a recipient of the email.
“It’s scary how something so innocent that sounds so interesting could actually be a scam,” Cook said. “It’s even scarier to think how many other emails we respond to that may not be legitimate.”
Joe Matise, technology support analyst, confirmed the message did not come from Human Resources.
“It was spam mail-someone hacked into a server in IT and got a hold of email addresses,” Matise said. “They’re already on it.”
Officer Sutton said the only thing he could do, was document that the email was sent.”
“Once it’s reported to Raleigh, we’re not going to step on their toes,” Sutton said.
Sutton advised recipients to ignore the message. For those who replied and were contacted by the spammer again, he had specific instructions.
“You need to respond back and say ‘I haven’t asked to be contacted over anything. My name is not with any service. You must have the wrong person,'” Sutton said.
He said if anyone is contacted after having sent that message, they need to call Campus Police and alert them because that could fall under harassment.
“It’s shady, yes, but it’s not against the law for someone to lie and say they work for someone,” Sutton said. “It’s when they try to use that to gain some kind of advantage that it becomes a crime.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, Officer Sutton said more complaints were received about the incident and the department will be posting a safety alert on its Facebook page and the investigations division is doing some follow up with Human Resources.
