MONTICELLO, NY — Sullivan County sheriff Mike Schiff warned in November of a scam involving customers of Orange and Rockland Utilities in the southern part of the county. That scam has progressed into Sullivan County proper and now involves customers of New York State Gas and Electric (NYSEG).

Here’s how it works. The victim will receive a phone call from a person pretending to be a NYSEG Utilities account representative. The phony employee will tell the victim that their last payment was not received and that their electric will be shut off by the end of the day.

Victims are told they can avoid the shut off if they make an immediate payment using a Green Dot MoneyPak Card, a type of prepaid credit or debit card, which can be purchased at certain pharmacies or convenience stores. The victim buys the card and then provides the card number to the scammers.

The scammers then apparently transfer the money off of the card and withdraw the funds from an ATM machine, making them very hard to catch. The same male with an Hispanic accent, who answers the phone in the Orange and Rockland scam, is now answering the phone in the NYSEG scam, according to Sheriff’s Detective Cyrus Barnes.

But, there is also a new twist. The scammers are spoofing NYSEG’s phone number. “If you have caller ID and look at the incoming number, it will say NYSEG and give the company’s actual phone number,” said Detective Barnes. “They are using a computer program to generate the phony caller ID,” he said. NYSEG customers receiving any calls regarding their accounts should immediately hang up and then call NYSEG’s customer service number at 800/572-1111 or refer to the company’s website at: www.nyseg.com.

The IRS scam

In the second scam, Sullivan County residents are receiving calls from people claiming to be from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The scammers tell the victims that their last tax return was not received and that they owe money to the government.

The scammers threaten the victim by telling them that if they don’t pay, the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office will be sent to their house to arrest them. The victims are then directed to send money via Western Union or MoneyGram®.

“We don’t collect money for the IRS”, said Sheriff Mike Schiff. “They simply freeze your bank account or put a lien on your house if you really owe taxes.” The sheriff said the red flag in any of these situations is when you are asked to wire money. “As soon as you hear the words “Western Union” or “MoneyGram” from someone you have never met, you can be sure it is a scam,” he said.

The sheriff says that he has received reports that the scammers are spoofing the sheriff’s office main number on the caller ID system as well. “If someone calls you claiming to be from the IRS, be very skeptical,” said Schiff.