Written by Mayor Mary Marvin:
BRONXVILLE, NY — This incredibly joyous time of giving also becomes a time of taking, as scammers seem to want to capitalize on the goodwill and the gift giving of the season.
New scams are out there and many are the old tried and true ones.
There are a variety of phone scams with one of the most prolific “from” the IRS.
Callers identify themselves as IRS agents alerting you in a very urgent tone about an active IRS warrant out for you and money is required to clear up the warrant. Bottom line, the IRS never reaches out by phone, so immediately hang up.
In a particularly frightening and insidious phone scam, a caller will state that a relative, usually a grandchild, has been arrested and needs money to keep his record clean. The receiver of the call is directed to purchase debit cards to post bond, pay a fine or relay credit card information to the caller. The callers are quite sophisticated and share accurate current information about family members via trolling the Internet. Before offering any information, always confirm the situation with a family member and don’t fall for the line often used warning you not to call your children and get your grandchild in trouble.
With the holiday season and the volume of online package deliveries at an all-time high, so are package thefts. Cars often trail UPS trucks and remove parcels from the porch before the driver has even turned the corner. An easy way to prevent this is to ask for a tracking…
