DEAR SUN SPOTS: I read US, OK, STAR and People magazines every week and don’t like to miss out on them. Celebrity lives are so interesting! Life & Style published its final issue July 7. I read that for 20 years.

Now I’m wondering about Closer magazine. Did that one discontinue too? I haven’t seen it in a month. — No name, Lewiston

ANSWER: You are a busy gal, keeping up with the lives of the stars! I don’t subscribe to these but it is a guilty pleasure to browse through them while waiting at the hairstylist!

I did some research for you and discovered that In Touch, Life & Style, Closer and First for Women magazines have all stopped publishing as of July 7 and have laid off entire staffs. I read, “Despite the best efforts of many of our talented colleagues, we have been unable to develop a profitable business model for four of our magazine titles.”

Closer’s website is still live (https://www.closerweekly.com/)  and so is its Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/closermag/.

DEAR SUN SPOTS: I attended an event at a senior center with my friends recently and they handed out pamphlets about scams. I often read about these in Sun Spots so I thought this general info would be helpful to share. You can never be too careful when it comes to this.

Whenever you have anything in the column about these scams, I read them carefully and save them. I have a friend who was taken in by a gift card scam and lost $6,000. I sure wish she had reached out to me or a family member when she first got the call. She was 81 at the time and these people terrorized her. By the time she told someone about it, it was too late. — Dianne, no town

ANSWER: I’m so sorry to hear about your friend. I’m glad you’re staying vigilant and are willing to share the information you received. I’ll attempt to summarize it here:

Scammers pretend to be part of an organization you know such as Medicare, Social Security, the IRS, your utility company, the police department, or a charity. They use technology to change the phone number on your caller ID so that it looks familiar to you.

The caller may say you’ve won a prize and must pay a fee to get it, or you owe money, have a computer virus, a family member has an emergency, or there’s an issue with one of your financial institutions or other accounts.

Scammers will pressure you to act immediately. They may threaten to arrest you, sue you, take away your driver’s or business license, or deport you. They may also threaten to corrupt your computer or phone.

They will insist on payment with cryptocurrency, gift cards, MoneyGram, or Western Union payments. They may send you a fake check, telling you to deposit it and then send them the money.

Never do any of these things and resist the pressure to act immediately. Never give your personal or financial information to someone you’re unsure of. Block these calls, talk it through with a friend or family member, and report the call to the FTC at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/.

This column is for you, our readers. It is for your questions and comments. There are only two rules: You must write to the column and sign your name. We won’t use it if you ask us not to. Please include your phone number. Letters will not be returned or answered by mail, and telephone calls will not be accepted. Your letters will appear as quickly as space allows. Address them to Sun Spots, P.O. Box 4400, Lewiston, ME 04243-4400. Inquiries can also be emailed to [email protected].