Carson City Sheriff's Office: 3 defrauded of several hundred dollars in NV Energy phone scam
At least five residents have filed reports with the Carson City Sheriff's Office in the past two days after a telephone scam that involved so-called NV Energy bill collectors. Of the five complaints being investigated, three residents were defrauded of several hundred dollars, a deputy said Wednesday.
Each of the victims said they were contacted by phone, told that NV Energy had made upgrades and they had not paid for those upgrades. The victims were told to make payments using Green Dot MoneyPak cards, the deputy said. An NV Energy official said the company is aware of the scam and urges customers not to fall for it.
"NV Energy does not call customers and solicit payments. If customers receive a call asking for a payment, they should refuse and call local law enforcement officials or NV Energy if they have additional questions," said NV Energy spokeswoman Faye Andersen.
The utility is aware that persons identifying themselves as employees of the company are calling customers, threatening to disconnect power if a credit card payment, money card payment or cash transfer is not made over the phone immediately. The victims are usually elderly or disabled, according to the sheriff's office. In this and recent cases victims have been elderly.
"These are outright scams," said Andersen.
Scams like the latest have been going on for months and involves personal phone calls and threats of shutting off power if a payment isn't made through a credit card or a cash transfer. The Carson City Sheriff's Office urges people to immediately warn their friends and relatives about the scam either by phone, email or social media like Facebook. The fact that people continue to fall for the scam, allowing themselves to become victims is evidence they haven't been warned or are unaware of the fraud being perpetrated on others.
On Tuesday columnist and Carson City accountant John Bullis wrote about a similar scam involving the IRS.