BANGOR, Maine (AP):

A UNITED States (US) senator has said phone scams out of Jamaica that received statewide attention are still causing problems for Maine seniors.

Susan Collins, who is serving her third term as US senator, representing the state of Maine, told reporters that she can't think of a telephone scam that's "more cruel, sophisticated and more persistent".

FairPoint, the telephone company in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, says elderly residents across the region have been cheated out of more than $1 million by con artists telling them they've won a lottery or a car but need to make payments to cash in.

Collins, the top Republican on the Senate Special Committee on Aging, joined Major Bill King of the York County Sheriff's Department, FairPoint Communications officials, and Kim Nichols of Hermon, whose 77-year-old dad was scammed, at a news conference on Friday.