Authorities say a couple of scams have been aiming their way towards area residents.
Indiana State Police say they have received complaints from residents in Southern Indiana that scammers are contacting them by telephone pretending to be representatives of Vectren Energy and Duke Energy. The scammers say a technician is on the way to shut the resident’s power off unless they are able to pay them with a credit card.
Also police have been told that a potential victim reported she was contacted by someone who told her she had passed bad check nine years ago. The caller told the woman there was a warrant out for her arrest but the matter could be taken care of if the woman paid them $3,000.
Sgt. Phillip Hensley of the Indiana State Police Jasper Post says the trend in scamming now is to pretend to be a company a potential victim is familiar with and then says pressure is applied to make the victim believe they have done something wrong.
Hensley encouraged residents to not fall victim to these attempts. He says the easiest thing to do is immediately hang up the phone and end the call. He also says if you do not recognize the phone number calling you, simply do not answer the call. If it is important enough, the caller will leave you a voicemail. And finally and most importantly, do not provide any of your personal or financial information over the telephone.
