JACKSON COUNTY, ILL. (WSIL) -- A Jackson County woman is telling the cautionary tale of a telephone scammer using her utility company as cover to bilk money out of unsuspecting power users.聽
Murphysboro resident Amber Boulton said her wife got a phone call over the weekend.聽
"It was from someone pretending to be Ameren," Boulton said. "Saying they were going to shut off our power for nonpayment."
Boulton said the initial pitch didn't make sense and made them very suspicious.聽
"Our account is NOT in her name, and her phone number is NOT associated with the account. Plus, we don't owe anything on the account," Boulton said.聽
Ameren receives about 2,000 reports of a variety of scams every year. The utility company's best advice for its customers: be smart, listen to your gut and if a persistent, suspicious person calls you, hang up your phone.聽
That's exactly what Boulton did and she went a step further by taking her experience to social media to get the word out to her friends and neighbors.聽
"Please be careful of these scammers," Boulton wrote on Murphysboro Crime Watch page on Facebook.聽
Boulton plans to report it to the power company.聽
"They're closed for the weekend. I'll be calling Monday," Boulton said.
American has resource online available anytime that can help customers with scams.聽
Since the pandemic the company warns customers scammers have been busy.聽
"Ameren customers should be aware of telephone, mail, email, door-to-door, and other in-person scams that involve criminals posing as Ameren representatives and demanding immediate payment or personal information."
Ameren has joined nearly 100 utilities nationwide to raise awareness of scam tactics and educate customers before they become victims.
They suggest delete and block any emails from utilities that are not your service provider.聽
Do not pay the caller a prepaid card including green dot card, a wire transfer or any other form of payment that may be difficult for law enforcement to trace.聽
Ignore suspicious requests for personal information such as bank account numbers, user names and passwords, credit card numbers and passwords or Social Security numbers.聽
If someone comes to your door and claims to be a utility worker, as to see an employee ID and call Ameren known numbers to confirm the purpose of the visit.聽
Delete suspicious emails, hang up the phone, close the door and call Ameren Illinois at 800-755-5000 or Ameren Missouri at 800-552-7583.聽
