SRP, APS warning businesses against scams
Aug 22, 2013, 4:41 PM | Updated: 4:41 pm
PHOENIX — Both Salt River Project and Arizona Public Service don’t want business owners to be left in the dark when it comes to protecting your identity and your money.
The companies are alerting Valley customers that there is a new scam that primarily targets small business owners.
The scam artists call victims and identify themselves as SRP or APS workers and make threats. These victims are instructed to purchase a prepaid card from Walgreens, load it with money and call back with the card information.
“They’re telling customers that if they don’t pay within 30 minutes, they will disconnect the power,” said SRP spokesperson Kathleen Mascarenas. “If someone is forcing you to pay immediately, that’s a huge red flag that it’s not a utility company.”
Fortunately, in some cases, the victims called their utility company directly to confirm before they were duped out of cash.
SRP has reported the activity to the Federal Trade Commission.
