State police said residents in St. Lawrence County and other neighboring counties have reported several phone scams and some people have been swindled out of money by someone soliciting under false pretenses.

The first example was reported by a woman who was contacted by a person telling her she had won a sweepstakes prize. In addition, the solicitor advised her she would need to send money in order to claim her prize via a wire transfer.

Another recent scam resulted in a gentleman being contacted by an individual who identified himself as a police officer in another country. The “officer” advised the man that his grandchild was in jail for committing a crime, and needed bail money. The unsuspecting and concerned gentleman was told he needed to wire $500 to the respective agency so that his grandchild could be released.

Most of these scammers are overseas and the phone numbers they call from are eventually untraceable. Individuals who call claim to be or know the victim’s relative and say that they are in need of help. They act desperate on the phone, posing as a grandchild or a friend, claiming, “He was arrested overseas.” “She was mugged.” “Please send money right away.”

Another female victim was contacted by a person claiming that they would pay off her credit card debt. The victim then released her various credit card numbers to the suspect caller.

Another common phone scam involves a person claiming to be from the IRS, advising the unsuspecting victim that they owe money and will be arrested if they don’t pay immediately. More on these scams can be found here: https://www.irs.gov/uac/irs-warns-of-back-to-school-scams.

State police are investigating several complaints of a telephone scam in which the caller threatens to harm a loved one if the receiver of the call does not send them money.

This scam, which troopers describe as “common,” involves unknown people calling the scam victim claiming that their loved one has been involved in a motor vehicle accident or has been kidnapped.

The calls are what police describe as “threatening in nature” and usually involve the caller demanding that money be sent to an area outside of the United States, or the person involved will be arrested or harmed.

Officials say any member of the public who receives one of these scam calls or who has been victimized should call and report the incident to their local policing agency.

These are just a few examples of some recently reported phone scams that are used to target an unsuspecting citizen and exploit money from them.

As a caution to the public:

• Never give out any information, including but not limited to your name, address, credit card numbers, bank numbers, social security numbers, etc.

• Never send money to a prize company, since legitimate prize companies never involve the winner sending money for shipping or tax purposes or any other reason they give.

• Never send money to individuals claiming to be the IRS. The IRS will never call to demand immediate payment or make threats.

• Never send money via wire transfer or purchase gift cards that many of these solicitors ask for.

• Protect yourself: Call the friend or relative claiming to need your help to confirm whether the story is true, using a phone number you know to be legitimate. If you aren’t able to contact the person, call other friends or family members to confirm the situation.

• Report it: Officials stress that any member of the public who receives one of these scam calls or who has been victimized should call and report the incident to their local police agency.

Also, the New York State Office of the Attorney General investigates illegal and questionable telemarketing operations in New York State. Anyone who receives a solicitation by telephone, mail, email or in person, from someone seeking money and who purports to be a representative or employee of a police agency, is advised to get as many details as possible about the caller and to report this to the New York State Attorney General’s Charities Bureau or the nearest Attorney General’s Office, or visit: http://www.ag.ny.gov/.

For more helpful information from the New York State Police on crime prevention visit: http://www.troopers.ny.gov/Crime_Prevention/.

For information on these and other phone scams, visit the Federal Trade Commission’s website at https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/scam-alerts , or the FBI’s tips on phone scams: https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety.

The FDIC also offers warnings on wire transfer scams: http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/cnsum13/wire-transfer-scams.html.