Students are surprised to hear about an identity theft close to campus.

Lexington police are investigating after a University of Kentucky student's email account was hacked. They say someone logged onto the teen's account and sent harassing emails from it.

When University of Kentucky students heard what happened to a fellow undergrad, they were a little alarmed.

"It's a big invasion of privacy," explained student Brittany Drugan.

Lexington police are investigating after a student told them someone hacked into her email account, and started sending harassing messages. WKYT tracked down the student, and spoke with her family. They say the experience has her rattled.

"It makes me want to change my password a lot more so it doesn't get hacked because you put your personal stuff on that and you don't think people are gonna hack it," said Drugan.

Students told WKYT UK does have rules in place on all online accounts to prevent identity theft.

"You have to change your email every 90 days. You have to change your password or it'll reset by itself," explained UK freshman Gervonte Lee.

"When you change your MyUK, which you have to do every 90 days, I would go ahead and change your UK email password to the same thing so that way no one can ever get it," said student Anna Fritts.

The victim's family told WKYT police are usually able to track down locations where the hacking occurred, but it's often difficult to find the hacker.