Re: Fake Student Applications/Registrations

["Wesolowski, Nathan R." <Nathan.Wesolowski () NWTC EDU>]

Hello everyone, this is my first time posting here.

Since last weekend we have observed an unusually high number of new student applications/registrations containing fake 
information.  After investigating, I discovered that our College was recently featured on a Chinese blog.  The blog's 
"educational welfare" category lists dozens of other colleges and universities, along with step-by-step details for 
obtaining free accounts/email addresses  - hxxps://404edublog.cf/<https://404edublog.cf/>.

It is obvious that these scammers are after a .EDU email address.  With the ongoing COVID situation, we have waved or 
postponed certain fees in an attempt to reduce any registration barriers.  I believe that this is contributing to our 
problem.  While we have tools in place to help us identify and remove fake identities, I am curious to know what others 
have done about this problem.

Thanks,
Nate

Nate Wesolowski
Information Security Analyst

Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
2740 W. Mason Street
Green Bay, WI 54307
O 920.498.6943 | T 800-422-NWTC
nate.wesolowski () nwtc edu<mailto:nate.wesolowski () nwtc edu> | nwtc.edu<https://www.nwtc.edu/>

[cid:image001.jpg@01D661CC.59B2A1B0]


CONFIDENTIALITY: This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain confidential, proprietary and privileged 
information, and unauthorized disclosure or use is prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, please notify the 
sender and delete this e-mail from your system.

**********
Replies to EDUCAUSE Community Group emails are sent to the entire community list. If you want to reply only to the 
person who sent the message, copy and paste their email address and forward the email reply. Additional participation 
and subscription information can be found at https://www.educause.edu/community