Police Report Uptick in Phone Scams

Scam phone calls are becoming more common on the East End lately, with more residents falling victim, according to Southampton Town Police Department detectives.

Some residents have caught on that they were being scammed before sending any money, but others have lost hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of dollars.

Detectives said Wednesday that two methods that have been used against local victims are a caller reporting that a loved one is injured and needs money, or that a loved one has been abducted and will not be released until the caller receives a wire transfer of cash.

Detectives said residents who receive such a call should not give out any personal information. "Document the number the phone call is coming from, and make immediate notification to 911 for further direction."

A North Haven man told police April 16 that he was scammed out of $3,540 by a caller who said his grandson was in the Dominican Republic and needed bail money.  The man reported that he wired the money from a Western Union in two electronic transfers of $1,750 and two $20 fees. “After the money was sent, the subject called back asking for more money, alerting the complainant to the fraud,” the incident report stated.

A Noyac resident was scammed out of $350 on June 6 after she answered her cellphone and agreed to wire money to a man who told her that he was going to hold her sister hostage. The woman told police that the man said her sister struck a car that was parked with his nephew sitting on the hood and that the child fell off and was badly injured. He then told her that he would hold his sister hostage unless she wired him money Western Union.

On the same day, a similar incident happened to another Noyac resident, but this resident was told by the scammer that his mother was involved in a car accident. Before paying the money, he called his mother to find that she had been home all day.

East Hampton Village police are warning of similar scams and posting notices at Western Union offices.

Others scams have included callers telling victims that they have won a cash prize or owe a debt, and must send money using a Walmart gift card or a Green Dot MoneyPak, which is a prepaid card.

A Flanders resident told police on May 21 that she was the victim of a phone scam in which a man called her and said she won the lottery, but needed to purchase a Walmart gift card and send it to him. She sent the card, valued at $305, but never received the $2.5 million she was promised.

A Hampton Bays woman told police May 16 that she was called that day at noon on her cellphone by a man claiming he was from a collection agency trying to collect an outstanding debt of around $750. The caller told her to get a Green Dot MoneyPak in the precise amount, scratch off  the card and call back with the card's number.

The women said she does not owe any money and was suspicious because of the method of payment requested.  

The MoneyPak website states, "If anyone else asks for your MoneyPak number or information from your receipt, it’s probably a scam. Don’t give your MoneyPak number to pay for something you buy through the classifieds or to collect a prize or sweepstakes. Do not give away your receipt information to another party either."

A man from Hampton Bays told police that on June 6 he received a call stating he won $7,000, but he must first send $2,600 in the form of a Green Dot MoneyPak.  He bought $2,600 worth of Green Dot cards and returned home, where the caller was still waiting on the phone. He gave the caller the codes to redeem the cards.  The man did not receive his prize and he found that the caller's number was disconnected.