LONGMEADOW – For the past several months, the Longmeadow Police Department has been receiving reports of scams targeting residents in the area. Sergeant Eric Wisnouskas said that the department receives complaints on a near-daily basis, including five reports of unemployment scams on Oct. 8 alone. Wisnouskas told Reminder Publishing that a Connecticut resident recently found out that 44 people around the country were using his social security number for fraud.

Unfortunately, Wisnouskas said, scam artists are creative, and use several different types of scams. He spoke of three different types of scams: those that promise something good, those that prey on fears of something negative or those that use a factual happening to gain information.

The first type of scam involves a phone call in which the person is told that they have won a Canadian lottery or a similar windfall. The unsuspecting target will be told that they must first send a certain amount of money for fees, international postage, or similar details before they can collect their winnings. Wisnouskas said that people should be immediately suspicious if they are notified of winnings or monetary compensation despite not having entered a contest or promotion.

Rather than promise something positive, other scams work to convince targets that something bad has happened, such as a grandchild has been arrested and needs bail money. In these situations, the best course of action is to call the family member directly or call the police.

While the first two types of scam use people’s emotions to lure them into parting with money, the third type of scam attempts to get information by claiming to be connected to a business or agency that targets may have heard about in the news.

For example, Wisnouskas said that scammers have called residents claiming that because of the Eversource-Columbia Gas merger, they need to verify customer information. Similarly, someone will call pretending to be from a bank or the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and ask for information. That information then allows the criminals to access bank accounts, social security numbers, or credit card numbers that may be on file with a company.

Wisnouskas said that legitimate companies and banks will never ask for personal or banking information over the phone. Another common tactic, he said, is to call claiming to be collecting money for police or firefighter associations. Legitimate organizations will not ask for money over the phone, he said. Another “red flag” is when someone asks for a gift card or to have money wired.

Tracking and apprehending scammers is difficult. Wisnouskas said that they use technology to reroute the phone numbers and internet protocol (IP) address to appear as though the person on the other end of the connection is local. In reality, Wisnouskas said, “You don’t know where the call is coming from.”

While most of the scams are targeted at the elderly, the sergeant emphasized that anyone can fall for scams and that the best course of action is to contact the police.

“Call us and let us know if you think you’re being scammed,” Wisnouskas said. While the money can’t be retrieved in most cases, alerting police helps them track the crime. Other steps to take if someone believes they have been scammed include telling a family member or friend, contacting banks or financial institutions and credit reporting agencies.