O, Brother

At 7:43 p.m. on Aug. 21, a UA student was reported as insulting females around the Student Union Memorial Center. However, he fled the area before University of Arizona Police Department officers arrived.

A UAPD officer responded to a call from an employee of the SUMC regarding the student saying inappropriate and insulting comments to females around the area.

The employee stated that he and other employees had heard the student yelling “whores” at groups of girls walking by and also telling them that joining a sorority involves consequences. There were many groups of girls around that area due to the number of sorority-related activities occurring nearby, according to the officer.

When a UAPD officer arrived, the student had already left and no further action was taken.

Fake on a Plane

On Aug. 21, a UA professor reported someone using his UA purchasing card to make fraudulent charges in July.

The professor reported three fraudulent transactions on his account from when he was traveling in Europe. The charges included one for a resort in the Dominican Republic, another for a vendor in Washington and one for a hotel in Texas, all from the same day.

The professor gave a list of the transactions to UAPD and the case was forwarded to UAPD Property and Evidence.

A Comedy of Errors

On Wednesday, a UA student reported receiving numerous calls from an individual claiming to attempt to refund her money while asking for personal banking information.

A UAPD officer responded to the report, and the student told the officer that she had received multiple harassing calls from someone who claimed to be attempting to reimburse her money and threatening to arrest her if she did not cooperate with the caller.

The student said that the interaction began roughly two months ago when she was at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The student had been using her laptop when her screen froze and a message popped up saying that her computer was hacked and to contact a specific number to resolve the issue.

The student called the number provided and was told that in order to fix the computer, she would need to purchase and install an anti-virus software that the number she called would supply her with. She proceeded to buy the software using her father’s credit card, as well as providing her address and phone number, and her computer was successfully restored.

Approximately two weeks later, the student began receiving phone calls from an unknown phone number. The caller was with the supposed anti-virus software company and sometimes had an Australian accent, and other times a Middle-Eastern accent. The caller told her that they needed her bank information again to refund her money.

After the student refused to provide them with the bank information, the caller proceeded to call her repeatedly. In another phone call, the caller reported searching her computer and finding photos of a nude girl who appeared to be under the age of 18, stating that he would make sure she got arrested for the picture if she didn’t comply with them. She told them to leave her alone and stop calling, but they continued.

After some time without receiving calls, the student received yet another phone call from the same person, who this time was using more vulgar words and inappropriate sexual comments. The student told him that she was going to contact authorities to handle the situation.

A UAPD officer called the man, who identified himself as Jason Smith and claimed to work for a company called iYogi based out of India. He claimed that iYogi was hacked and that he was trying to refund clients for fraudulent purchases that they were previously lured into.

The UAPD officer told “Smith” that he was going to follow up on the claim to make sure it was true. Upon contacting the true iYogi company that is based out of India, a customer service center representative said that their company had not been hacked and that they never ask clients for personal information.

The UAPD officer advised the student to get her laptop searched for viruses and to also make sure there were no more fraudulent charges on her father’s account. UAPD has not had a follow up from the student at this time.