PIGGOTT, Ark. – Don’t fall for it – that’s the message from Clay County Sheriff Terry Miller.
Clay County Dispatch has been receiving numerous calls reporting new scam calls in the area, according to a Facebook post. The caller is saying they are from a local utility company and they will shut off power to the person’s house if they do not send money through a pre-paid debit card.
“The information that we’re getting is that the person is calling, pretending to be somebody from the utility company and telling the people they need to go to the local store, a dollar general or something, and buy a money card,” Miller told NEA Report. “Then, send the money card to them or the utilities are going to be turned off.”
Miller said falling for the scam makes recouping the money hard and if it is even possible, it would be a long process. Often, scammers operate out of state lines, making it a jurisdictional stretch for departments and although it is doable, one will be missing their scammed-money for quite some time, at a best case scenario.
“As in all things, the utility company is just like the federal government,” Miller said. “They’re not going to call you on the phone and tell you to buy a money order or something of that nature. They’ll be contacting you by mail.”
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