Scammers on the Line

Thu, 05/23/2019 - 07:22

By T.E. McMorrow

April 9, 2015

Another week closer to April 15, and there are two more reports of scammers posing as Internal Revenue Service agents. Both incidents occurred last Thursday.

Lee Young of Two Holes of Water Road, East Hampton, recognized immediately that he was being scammed when “Agent Ford of the I.R.S.” called him, demanding he send $3,130 using a prepaid card. East Hampton Town police traced the call to a Voice Over Internet Protocol number. These are used by grifters via programs like Skype, “and can be masked to look like any number,” the report says. Police then notified the Federal Trade Commission consumer hotline, which handle phone scams for the I.R.S.

Another East Hampton Town resident, Christine Oms of Tall Tree Court, received two similar voicemail messages. She too recognized them as scams and did not return the calls.

Residents who receive such calls can contact the F.T.C.’s consumer hotline directly at 877-382-4357.

Long Days on the Fire Line In Orange County

East Hampton and Amagansett firefighters volunteered to head north last week to help fight a 5,000-acre wildfire in Orange County, N.Y., not once but twice, battling unfamiliar terrain to do so. “They fight fires completely differently than we do when we have a brush fire,” the Amagansett chief said.

Nov 21, 2024

Awards for Good Policing in Handgun Scuffle

“It could have gone worse. We’re lucky that I have officers here that weren’t shot,” said Police Chief Jeff Erickson at Friday’s East Hampton Village Board meeting. Chief Erickson was recognizing Sgt. Wayne Gauger and Officers John Clark and Robbie Greene for a traffic stop on Aug. 31 that turned into a scuffle and the eventual confiscation of an illegal gun.

Nov 21, 2024

On the Police Logs 11.21.24

A Three Mile Harbor Drive resident reported an online dating scam on the afternoon of Nov. 16. Somehow, said the 80-year-old man, a person on the dating platform had gotten his phone number and demanded $2,000 from him, threatening to tell his family he was using the site if he did not comply. Police told the man to block the number.

Nov 21, 2024

Head-On Collision on Route 27

A 2-year-old was taken to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital following a head-on collision Saturday afternoon on State Route 27 near Upland Road in Montauk.

Nov 21, 2024

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