Watch out for FairPoint impostors

The much-publicized problems surrounding the transition of e-mail from Verizon to FairPoint have apparently attracted the attention of scam artists.

The company cautioned Friday that scammers have been presenting themselves as FairPoint representatives “and contacting customers by e-mail to ask for their passwords.”

FairPoint says it “does not make a practice of asking for this information” and warns “customers should not provide their password to anyone.”

>>Fairpoint Watch<< According to the company, the scam says something similar to this: "FairPoint is currently carrying out scheduled maintenance and an upgrade of our webmail service and as a result of this; our E-mail client has been changed and your original password will be reset. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused. To maintain your FairPoint account, you must reply to this email immediately and enter your current password here (******) Failure to do this within 48 hours will immediately render your email account deactivated from our database." It is signed "FAIRPOINT SUPPORT TEAM" - but FairPoint emphasizes that it is not from them.