MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - Hundreds of students at Lemoyne-Owen College are in danger of becoming victims of identity theft after sensitive information was stolen from the school's library.
Lemoyne-Owen College is known as the Magicians. According to police, someone at the college made more than 300 student ID cards disappear.
Daphne Thomas, Director of Public Relations and Marketing at Lemoyne-Owen College, confirmed that information was taken. That information included names, birthdays and social security numbers.
"We all have to fill out [an ID card] as freshmen when we come in because we need that card to get access to computers, the system, to get books, we need the access," said Ashley Basquez, a junior at Lemoyne-Owen.
She's concerned about what may happen now that someone has student's personal information. "People going out buying things in your name, putting stuff on your credit; life is already hard and that's making it harder for you."
Basquez said while she's upset someone would steal student's personal information, "It's more upsetting that no one let us know. No one made an acknowledgement to say these students need to know that their identities could have been stolen… Whether it's phone calls, emails, texts message - something should have been done to communicate that message to us."
Thomas says there's a reason students haven't been told about the theft. "It's taken time to identify those impacted," she said.
According to Thomas, Lemoyne-Owen is strengthening its security. "We have looked at out security protocols. We're taking steps to change some of our protocols so we can better protect information here on campus… safety and security are a top priority here at Lemoyne-Owen College, right up there with a quality education."
Thomas says the college is working with the Federal Trade Commission in hopes of ensuring the identities of the students are not stolen.
