BANGOR, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Emera Maine says a number of its' small business customers have been bilked out of thousands of dollars by a very sophisticated telephone scam. The scammers are calling and demanding immediate payment and threatening to disconnect the customer with little or no notice, in some cases just a few hours.
"So that should be red flag number one because Emera Maine would never call someone up and threaten immediate disconnection for non-payment. what we might do is call a customer and say we understand you're late on your bill please give us a call back so we can talk about a payment arrangement, disconnection is always a last resort. so that should not come as a surprise to a customer. We would have had a conversation in advance already, explained Bob Potts, a spokesman for Emera Maine.
According to Potts, the scammers are also requiring payments be made by a prepaid debit card or other non-refundable forms of payment such as green dot cards. He says the scams are so sophisticated that the phone call may appear to be coming from Emera Maine on your caller id and the answering machine message will sound identical to the Emera Maine Customer Service Recording.
To protect yourself Emera says you should never give out credit card information to anyone unless you initiate the call.And if you have any questions or concerns you can call Emera at 1-855-EMERA-11.