Hi Abin,

I did some internet research for this college. I certainly believe this is part of scam. As you are also well-educated and experienced person, I think you will not fall on this.

1. Why the domain name is http://www.unc.ac  . As .ac is the Internet country code top-level domain, it not .edu which should be for educational purpose
2. There is no University of Newcastle in US, do google search
3. I used Google Map with street view, but I cannot see anything related to this university
4.  As u can call free from google talk, try to contact their numbers
5. Check the course schedule (http://www.unc.ac/index.php/page/action/edu/course), there is no course schedule after February 2010
6. I did the reverse whitepages, basically it gives you the owner information about the phone number.  And it shows that it cell phone, Can u believe that university contact number is on cell phone. http://www.whitepages.com/search/ReversePhone?full_phone=2026576238
7. Finally I nailed it :)   Now I got it, Try to search their fax number (202 756 1301) in google. It is related with different universities and different firm, I believe are part of differnt scam

Hope this help you