Cybercriminals steal identities of Georgia college students

Stallings wrote that a review has so far “found no evidence of a new data breach,” and that it has not identified “a single database containing all of the information associated with all impacted victims.” The email said the incident impacted a “small percentage” of the USG community.

Earlier this month, the parent of a UGA student contacted the university’s police department “regarding a potential data breach,” according to a police report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through a public records request. The student had received multiple messages to her UGA email account from OnePay, a mobile banking company, regarding a credit and debit card being opened in her name, according to the report.

Both the parent and student “believed the fraud was the result of a potential UGA data breach” because the emails were sent to her university email address and the cards were sent to the home address connected to her UGA student account. They also alerted police of a Reddit thread where multiple UGA students claimed they had experienced the same type of fraud.

In his email, Stallings advised that the USG community review their bank account statements and their credit with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. In the event of suspicious activity, Stallings asked victims to file a police report with their university and to then send the report to the Georgia Attorney General’s office. He also wrote that victims should consider freezing their credit file with each credit bureau.

“This prohibits accounts from being opened without your approval,” wrote Stallings. “We understand this may be concerning, but be assured, we will provide further updates if additional information becomes available.”