New scam scheme: why New Yorkers are sent letters on behalf of the Secretary of State of New York
'22.09.2021'
Nurgul Sultanova-Chetin
State officials are warning New Yorkers of the new fraud scheme. It uses bogus certificates allegedly issued by the secretary of state. The state attorney general is investigating, reports Silive.
The New York State Consumer Protection Department detailed the fraud scheme on September 21st. The bogus letters have the heading Executive Letter of Guarantee.
They argue that the addressee is to receive a large payment, which is held by the State Department to settle debts related to the sale of timeshares. In response, they want to receive his bank data from the recipient.
The letters include the forged signature of the Secretary of State of New York, Rossana Rosado. Also, the letters illegally used the seal of the State of New York. Officials declare that the signature and seal are not genuine and were not issued by the Secretary of State.
How to protect yourself
To protect ourselves from these types of fraud, the Consumer Protection Division recommends the following:
- Be careful with all communications you receive, including those that appear to come from officials.
- Check the sender's information to make sure the message was sent from a legitimate source. Be vigilant if the reply address is different from the sender's.
- Check your organization's contact information yourself using an online search engine.
- You can call the sender at a known reliable number (found on the official website) not listed in the message to make sure it was he who sent the message.
- Government agencies will never partner with businesses to extort money from consumers.
The New York State Department has sent a request to the region's attorney general to investigate these bogus letters. Anyone who receives such a letter should immediately report it to the New York Attorney General's Office at the following address: 28 Liberty Street, New York, NY, 10005.
For more information on consumer protection, call the DCP Hotline at 800-697-1220 (Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 16:30 pm) or visit the DCP website at https://dos.ny.gov/consumer-protection.
