In November 2001, HUPD located a man in South Florida who had allegedly been making similar harassing phone calls for two years to Harvard female undergraduates.
This man was known as “the serial whisperer.”
He was found by HUPD after a trace was placed on the phones of students he had been calling.
No further calls were reported after police in Boca Raton, Fla., contacted the suspect at HUPD’s request.
Catalano stressed that HUPD is not sure if this year’s calls are being made by one man or by a group of people.
He said the best thing that students can do if they are contacted by the whisperer is to report the incident to the police.
If any formal report is made by a student and the student continues to receive harassing calls, the phone company can trace the calls if the trace is for law enforcement reasons.
Catalano warned students to be guarded with their information over the phones.
“Don’t give people your name, date of birth or social security number,” Catalano said. “This is just a range of advice for [receiving] phone calls.”
–Staff writer Hera A. Abbasi can be reached at abbasi@fas.harvard.edu.