Police warn of phone scam against Gettysburg College families

A phone scam has recently targeted families of Gettysburg College students, according to police.

In a release, Gettysburg Borough Police Department warned that on the morning of Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, several parents of Gettysburg College students were allegedly contacted by scammers posing as Campus Safety Officers from the school, claiming that their students were involved in various incidents such as traffic stops with contraband found.

In the phone calls, the scammers demand immediate payment to “resolve” the issue without police involvement, the release states.

“These scammers are sneaky,” police wrote, “they use publicly available info. from the College’s website and social media, like students’ names, sports teams, and coaches, to sound legit.”

Police urged relatives of Gettysburg College student to remember that the school campus safety will not collect payments of any kind, as fees such as parking tickets are handled through official student accounts.

“Real communications about serious matters use official channels, without pressure for quick cash over the phone,” the release states.

The release shared that anyone who receives a suspicious call from Gettysburg College Campus Safety should hang up immediately and verify the call by directly calling Campus Safety at 717-337-6911.

If someone believes they have fallen victim to a scam, and has shared information over the phone, police asked victims to immediately call their bank and credit card companies and to report the incident to Gettysburg Police.

Anyone who believes they have received a Gettysburg College scam call, or believes that they have information on the scam calls, was asked to contact Gettysburg Police at 717-334-8101.