Martha’s Vineyard’s three local banks have warned customers to beware of phone scammers, who targeted large numbers of Island residents on Thursday night, seeking their account details.
The automated calls attempt to trick people by saying their accounts have been “suspended,” then transferring them to a “security center” where they are asked to provide their card numbers and security codes.
Customers of the Martha's Vineyard Savings Bank, Edgartown National and Bank of Martha's Vineyard/Sovereign Bank all received the late-night calls.
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Vineyard residents with an interest in how the waters which surround the Island are used will get their chance to shape state regulation under a major new piece of legislation, at a public meeting this Tuesday.
The Oceans Act, signed into law by Gov. Deval Patrick in May of this year, is billed as the first attempt anywhere in the country to establish a comprehensive plan to manage development in state waters and balance competing uses, such as fishing, navigation, conservation and alternative energy generation.
As the national economy continues to sputter dangerously, the outlook for the Vineyard remains uncertain, especially when it comes to the main economic engines of construction and real estate, which by most accounts have fallen off dramatically in recent weeks.
And while there are few statistical measures, the anecdotes suggest that what was already going to be a long, hard winter is likely to be even harder now that problems have spread into the financial markets and wider economy.
Cong. William Delahunt had literally thousands of reasons to vote against the proposed $700 billion financial rescue package when it came before the House at the start of this week, not least of them something he saw in Forbes magazine on Tuesday, Sept. 29.
Forbes quoted a spokeswoman’s explanation of how the U.S. Treasury came up with the $700 billion figure. “It’s not based on any particular data point,” she said. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”
The Vineyard’s three local banks remain confident of riding out the storm now buffeting world financial markets, thanks to conservative lending practices which largely avoided involvement in the subprime mortgage market.
However, the heads of all three banks this week expressed concern about the effects of the financial crisis on the broader Island economy, given its heavy reliance on seasonal residents and visitors, many of whom will likely have less to spend in the coming year.
Tisbury voters shrugged off the prophets of financial doom in Washington and among their own ranks, and overwhelmingly endorsed two costly town initiatives at Tuesday night’s special town meeting.
By a margin of 131 to 24, they agreed to a plan to move the town fire, ambulance and emergency services to a new site on Spring street, opposite the Tisbury elementary school where the town hall annex now stands.
