With the arrival of a new week is another report of a new scam reported to the newspaper office.

Jeff Hurley, area general manager at My Credit Union in Mineola, called to warn the public not to fall victim to a car wrapping scheme that could have potentially cost $3,500 to $4,000.

While it may be new to this area, it turns out this is a variation on an old scheme. As early as 2015 the Federal Trade Commission had warned about ads posted on the internet saying money will be paid for someone to wrap their car in an advertisement.

Car wrapping is essentially renting out space on one’s vehicle where a business will put their logo. The FTC states that schemers will give the victim a fake check and in return ask you to wire them money. By the time a bank realizes the check won’t go through…your money is gone.

Hurley said that anytime someone offers to send a person money, then asks that person to mail money to them or someone else, that is a sure sign of a scam. In this car wrapping scam Hurley said one customer lost $50, which he is calling “a $50 lesson learned.” He also warned folks to be wary of work-from-home scams.

Another Mineola resident called last week to warn people that the calls allegedly from the Internal Revenue Service are still going around. She had received one in which she was told she owed the IRS money and a warrant had been issued for her. The computerized voice gave her a telephone number to call. Unfortunately, since this call was made from a voice-generated computer she could not even ask questions.

And an 82-year-old man called immediately after receiving a call allegedly from Microsoft telling him his computer was not properly registered and licensed. He needed to pay $199 for one year and due to him being a senior citizen, he could pay $299 for a five-year license. The Mineola man said he usually screens his calls, but he saw on his caller ID this one appeared to have been from Lewisville, Texas and so he answered. The man said the caller became angry and he had difficulty getting rid of him before he finally hung up.

According to Microsoft’s official website Community page, “Unrequested phone calls of this nature are almost always a common scam. Do not give them any info, do not give them access to your PC, do not give them any money and do not go to any websites they suggest. Hang up.” The website further states, “Microsoft never makes unasked for support or security phone calls. (These people may use names other than Microsoft as well.)”