Police tracking Psych imposter

A con artist has been plaguing Psychology students over the last few months by calling and asking them to participate in a psychological study in return for money. College students were alerted to the scheme by an e-mail sent yesterday afternoon from the College of Arts and Sciences. According to the e-mail statement, a man -- who claims to be a Penn graduate student -- has been calling mostly Psychology graduate and undergraduate students to ask if they will help with an IQ research project called the Mind Quotient. The man claims he is doing this research with Psychology Professor John Crawford. If a student helps out with the study, the caller -- who sometimes identifies himself as "Tom Stewart" -- goes on to say that they will receive payment from Random House. Penn Police Interim Detective Supervisor Bill Danks said that the Psychology department has also sent out a letter to inform students about the caller. While the College's e-mail said the phone calls ask for personal information that can be "inappropriate," Danks said most of the questions seem valid. "The questions are mostly all psychological type questions, and most people respond," Danks said. "There's nothing threatening in these [calls]." Danks says the University Police Department -- which has taken charge of the investigation -- has already received numerous reports from students about the caller. One report claimed that the caller asked the student to "'go to your friends, tell them you're smarter than they are, see how they react and then call us back," Danks said. The student would then be given a phone number, always fake, to call later. "This caller is an imposter," the College's e-mail warned. "Dr. Crawford does not know [the caller], and neither Dr. Crawford nor any other faculty or graduate students in the Psychology department are engaged in such research." Crawford could not be reached for comment last night. Danks said that although the University Police have no idea what is motivating this mystery caller, he is probably someone who has easy access to the names of Psychology students and professors. "We're trying to find any pattern to [the calls] where we might be able to identify [the caller]," Danks said.