Could a 'zombie college' scam hit Manitowoc's closed Holy Family College? Here's what to know.

MANITOWOC – A USA TODAY investigation has exposed websites set up for closed universities posing as viable colleges.

Whoever is behind the copycat sites has collected application fees and personal student identity information. These so-called “zombie” colleges are popping up throughout the country, but no one — yet — has tried this scam with the shuttered Holy Family College.

Holy Family College, the Manitowoc-area private Catholic college formerly known as Silver Lake College, closed in summer 2020. The Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Sponsored Ministries owns the now-empty campus and had its building torn down in November 2022.

The Sisters cited financial struggles exacerbated by the pandemic as the reason for closing the school's doors at 2406 S. Alverno Road — ending an 85-year run as a four-year college and closing an institution that had been around even longer, since the 19th century.

Now, scammers apparently are using the respected names of schools such as Holy Family College with bad intentions.

How to spot impostor colleges: Zombie colleges roam the internet, here's how to spot a legitimate, living university

Some of the imposter websites are tied to colleges that shut down long ago, like Morrison University in Nevada, which closed its doors in 2014, or Jones International, one of the first schools to offer college courses online, which followed in 2015. Others focused on institutions whose demise came recently, including the private Catholic Marymount California University, which closed nearly two years ago.

The USA TODAY investigation also found a network of fictitious colleges claiming to be accredited, generally the gold standard of legitimate universities in the U.S. However, those accreditors appear to be fabricated as well.

Franciscan Sisters history: Manitowoc Franciscan Sisters mark 150 years at Silver Lake in Wisconsin

Contact reporter Patti Zarling at pzarling@gannett.com or call 920-606-2575. Follow her on X @PGPattiZarling and on Instagram @PGPatti.

This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Zombie college scam could use Manitowoc's closed Holy Family College