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Old Discount TV Sales Scam Rears Head In Nanuet

NANUET, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Police announced Friday than an old scam has reared its ugly head, targeting businesses in Rockland County.

The Clarkstown police Detective Bureau said the scam has been targeting business owners, as well as diners, in Nanuet. A man identifying himself as Jimmy cold-calls the victim, claiming to be a UPS driver, of a Budweiser truck driver who had been their UPS driver, police said.

"Jimmy" says his brother, "Henry," works for Sears and can get Samsung 65-inch curve TVs at a discounted cost, police said. Calls are made back and forth between "Henry," "Jimmy," and the victim, who is finally lured to a Nanuet Sears store, police said.

At the Sears, the victim is met by a man who comes out of the area of the customer pickup doors and claims to work for Sears – complete with an identification card on a lanyard around his neck and a shirt and tie with khakis, police said.

The suspect approaches the victim in the parking lot and asks for cash for the purchase. The victim is then advised to wait for the TV to be brought out, and the suspect will hand over a phony receipt, police said.

Once the suspect goes into the Sears store – where he does not really work – he exits through a different door where another player in the scam whisks him away, police said.

The victim never gets the TV.

The scam has been a problem in the Northeast as far back as the 1960s, when it was first reported in the Boston area, police said.

In the latest cases, detectives have identified some of the suspects, and expect to make arrests, police said. Anyone who has been approached for such a scam is asked to contact Clarkstown police Detective Novotny at (845) 639-5864.

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