RALEIGH -- The Office of the State Auditor reported Monday that a review of N.C. Central University had found that workers at the school had been hired using fraudulent Social Security numbers and implied that those numbers, in some cases, may have been used to obtain N.C. driver's licenses.

The state audit reported that the federal penalty for "knowingly hiring unauthorized aliens" can include fines of up to $3,000 per employee and/or up to six months imprisonment.

The review did not say whether, or if, any or all of the workers found to be using fraudulent Social Security numbers were illegally in the U.S.

Auditor Les Merritt made it clear that the audit should pose a warning to others.

"Future strategic reviews could focus on any state agency or university," he said in a statement. "This review shows that the scope of the issue is larger than just [NCCU] and the penalties for violators can be pretty stiff."

The report did point out that NCCU had failed to cross-check employee information against the state controller's verification report, which allowed the incidents to escape notice.

The report said the fact that some of the users of fraudulent Social Security numbers held valid N.C. driver's licenses raised questions about whether the employees in question used their fraudulent I.D. to obtain those licenses.

"Identity theft is a growing problem that requires a proactive solution, and a valid driver's license is the trusted method of identification," Merritt said. "In order for [the Division of Motor Vehicles] to fully engage with all available tools, they must be constantly vigilant and have the right policies in place to guide the process."

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