To the Editor:

Just read the story about a St. Lawrence County man who was scammed via mail, see story; and it's very timely. I hope the person got everything stopped at his credit card service and have one more piece of advice for him:

Call your credit card company, explain what happened, and ask for a new credit card with new numbers. It is highly likely the bank will be able to stop the illegal activity, but after a time the watch goes away. Scammers know this and also know to wait up to a year before they attempt to use the card number.

If possible, also contact the bank and alert them to the event in case it comes to them as an electronic transfer.

That should close all the doors needed since these thieves rarely have enough energy to bother with more elaborate schemes. They only do what's easy for them.

If he gave an e-mail address, it would be wise to change that also.

I haven't seen this particular mail scheme yet but this one and a lot more are making the rounds in the mail these days. I have recently received four Nigerian-like scams and one supposedly from the IRS and another from the FTC. Both threatened to garnish my wages and/or have me arrested and one claimed there was an arrest warrant already issued on me.

These same scams are also arriving in e-mails and a lot more.

Educate your friends about these scams; you could save someone a lot of grief and their bank accounts.

Never, ever give out personal information to anyone you don't know. If it's a place you do know, ignore the letter and call that place to see if they have any such thing going on. If it's a phone call, hang up immediately as soon as you realize it's no one you know. You can always call the source to see if they have any such offer but use your number to call them, not from the phone, letter or email.

Anything that could identify you is personal information. Credit Card numbers, debit cards, phone number, address, social security numbers are a few of the things the scammers want.

Tom Rivet`

Heuvelton