Residents warned to beware of online swindlers
“They were using my name, so people were getting upset with me; they were trying to find me and were accusing me of doing this,” said Frank Sisco, the mayor of the Village of Wurtsboro. Sisco is referring to items that were advertised for sale on his Facebook page, which was taken over by hackers who impersonated to defraud potential buyers.
Unknown hackers advertised, among other items, a ride-on John Deere lawn mower and a litter of French bulldog puppies for sale in Sisco’s name. Sisco never owned or advertised these items for sale and became aware of the problem after friends alerted him to the scam. According to Sisco, the hacker was requesting payments be made before the delivery of items.
After he became aware of the problem, the mayor attempted to reach out to Facebook for assistance, which proved to be a challenge.
“I went through the various reporting procedures that they have on there, but to no avail, nothing worked,” he said. “There is no phone number to call Facebook to speak to a representative; there is no way of getting a hold of anyone from Facebook.”
Sullivan County Sheriff Mike Schiff said cyber crimes are on the rise.
“People are making these down payments and making purchases and they are losing their money,” said Schiff. “We recommend you know the seller, check with the seller, or go through a traditional vendor who will verify the authenticity of the seller and what their selling record is.”
Sisco believes his reputation has been damaged by the scam.
“It’s ruining my name because everyone was thinking it was me, even though I eventually managed to contact most of these people and straighten it out,” Sisco said. “There is an untold number of people, I can’t tell you how many people, who may have done something I don’t even know about.”
