After a number of Warren County residents were targets of a phone scam in recent weeks, the same methods are being used on area residents via e-mail.

The Bowling Green Police Department began receiving calls about e-mails that referenced a phone scam using the name of Southeast Financial Credit Union, said Officer Barry Pruitt, spokesman for the department.

“The e-mail started with, ‘We know there’s been a phone scam involving Southeast Financial Credit Union,’ ” he said. “When I first started reading, I thought the e-mail might have been a response by the company to the initial scam.”

Late in the e-mail, though, it became apparent that it, too, was a scam when it asked the recipient to click on a link or call a phone number where personal financial information was requested, Pruitt said.

Bowling Green and Warren County residents received the scam calls asking for credit card information last week.

People in the area began receiving the e-mails Wednesday.

There is a legitimate Southeast Financial Credit Union, but it does not appear to have authorized the calls or e-mails, Pruitt said.

The e-mail used a lot of official-sounding language and logos in an attempt to create legitimacy, he said. The department has received a lot of phone calls about the scam but no reports yet that anyone has fallen for it, Pruitt said.

Pruitt said he received one of the e-mails at his city e-mail account. The group organizing the scheme is initiating huge numbers of phone calls and e-mails that are specifically targeted to multiple areas.

“If you send out millions of calls and e-mails, you’re bound to find a few customers,” he said.

There is a chance the e-mails are being sent by a second group not affiliated with the scammers making the phone calls, said James Hendricks, supervisory senior resident agent for the FBI in Bowling Green.

“These groups are constantly watching each other and copying techniques,” Hendricks said.

The credit union has added a warning message about the scams on its Web site at www.southeastfinancial.com/ASP/home.asp.

The company has been notified that fraudulent text messages, e-mails and phone calls are being transmitted.

The scam messages state, “Your Southeast Financial FCU account is closed due to unusual activity, or that online Bill Pay services have expired … Please beware, these messages and/or calls are NOT from Southeast Financial and we would never contact a customer regarding account information the company already has.”

Residents need to be even more vigilant about protecting their personal information during the next month and a half, Pruitt said.

“Criminals are ramping up their schemes for the holiday season,” he said.

Legitimate companies will not ask for personal information through a phone call or through an e-mail, Pruitt said.

The FBI asks that anyone who feels they may have become victims of this scam to report the incident to the agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center online at www.ic3.gov/default.aspx. They may also contact city police at 393-2473.