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Over the last few days, the city of Rye Police Department has received a number of complaints regarding phone scams. Unidentified male and female callers use a variety of tactics to gain both personal information and or money wire transfers from the potential victims, according to Rye Police Lt. Scott Craig, including the following:
"IRS Scam" – Caller identifies themselves as an agent of the Internal Revenue Service. This fraudulent agent accuses the potential victim of failing to properly file their taxes which will result in legal action and or arrest. They attempt to manipulate the intended victim into sending a wire transfer to a specific account. This fraudulent agent has gone as far as to meet with the intended victim at some obscure address in the local area.
"Arrest Scam" – A report was filed from a resident who received a phone call from a male caller identifying himself as an officer from a local police department. This unidentified caller claims to have the respondent's relative under arrest for DWI. The target victim is instructed to get $2,500 cash and to bail the relative out of jail. This targeted victim was able to quickly confirm this call to be a hoax and no money was exchanged.
"Microsoft Scam" – Unidentified caller claims to be a representative from Microsoft and that the target victim’s computer has a software virus and or problems. This fraudulent Microsoft representative requests remote access to the victim’s personal computer to provide this update and or bug correction and needs some personal information to complete the process. This caller requests you to give your date of birth and Social Security number to complete the process.
Police remind residents to protect their personal information and be cautious of any caller "phishing" for your personal information. These scammers may have some of your information already and even go as far as having a relative’s name.
Rye police said be cautious if you receive a call from an unknown party intimidating you into quickly giving personal information or sending money wire transfers. It is recommended you take names and phone numbers of all callers to verify their authenticity. Contact the City of Rye Police Department at 914-967-1234 if you have any questions or would like to report an incident.
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