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‘Old Scam, With New Twist’

Thu, 05/23/2019 - 07:12



East Hampton Town police issued an alert on their Facebook page this week following an attempt to defraud a local resident. “It’s an old scam with a new twist,” Capt. Chris Anderson said on Tuesday.

The resident, who was not identified, received a text message telling him that an arrest warrant had been issued for him in East Hampton Town Justice Court, said Captain Anderson, but that he could avoid arrest by sending money to satisfy the warrant.

Police emphasized in the alert, which was posted Monday, that they “never make contact via text message, and would never request payments.”

Anyone receiving such a text should not respond, the department advised. Instead, they should call police at 537-7575 and report the text.

In recent months there have been numerous reports of East Hampton residents receiving emails and phone calls from scammers posing as officers of various federal government departments, including the Internal Revenue Service.

The callers, who sometimes go as far as obtaining Washington, D.C., area code phone numbers, tell people that they owe the government money and will be arrested immediately if they do not send it.

 

On the Police Logs 07.17.25

A man “with white hair and a blue jacket” took another patron’s phone during a movie at the Regal Cinema and said he would not return it. He later told police he’d taken the phone to “make a stand” because the owner was talking loudly on it during the movie.

Jul 17, 2025

Found With Coke in Cars

Two drivers were charged last week in unrelated cases with fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance after East Hampton Town police found bags containing a “white rock-like substance” in their vehicles.

Jul 17, 2025

Overturned by the Overlook

A Brooklyn man was arraigned recently on multiple misdemeanor charges related to a May 25 accident that injured four passengers in his Mercedes S.U.V., according to police.

Jul 17, 2025

Combs Verdict on Trafficking Is Examined

To Cate Carbonaro, executive director of the East Hampton advocacy organization the Retreat, who has worked extensively with victims of sex and labor trafficking as a public defender, the split verdict in the federal criminal trial of Sean (Diddy) Combs presents a “stark reminder of how far we still have to go” to educate both the courts and the public about what the “often misunderstood” charge of sex trafficking really means.

Jul 10, 2025

 

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