In Sunday’s paper, in a story that is now on CovNews.com, we reported on another scam in our area. Desperate times bring out the scum of the earth in force. Make no mistake — people who try to take advantage of other people in hard times are the worst of the worst.

One current scam is the one that tries to take advantage of folks who recently have purchased car warranties from legitimate dealers. These people are being called by a computer-generated voice warning them that their warranty is about to expire and to send money to renew the warranty, when in actuality it still effective.

If you receive this call, contact the police immediately.

A few other warnings to heed: do not send money to anybody out of the country; money is not waiting for you from any inheritance of someone you do not know; and nobody is going to pay you millions to help them do anything.

Do not give any personal information to anyone on the phone or by e-mail unless you personally know the person with which you are dealing.

Do not send money to groups claiming to represent police or fire departments statewide; if our local law enforcement folks decide to have a local fund raiser, then we will let you know about it.

Don’t let people in your homes unless you know them.

If you ever have a doubt about any request to you for money for any reason, call our law enforcement officials.

The more "scum" artists that are stopped, the better.