The holidays are supposed to be a time of good cheer, but as some Northwoods residents are finding out, it's also a time when thieves try to take your money.
Wisconsin Public Service spokesperson Matt Cullen says they've had dozens of calls this week from customers saying they received a call to pay up....
"....Since Monday afternoon we've received approximately 40 phone scam attempts that have been made by people impersonating WPS employees to try to get money from our customers. The scammers have been using tactics they have done in the past(like)threatening customers with disconnection if the customer doesn't make an immediate payment to them...."
This particular scam keeps making the rounds but if you do get called, Cullen has some recommendations...
"...If a customer receives a suspicious call or they're unsure of the legitimacy of the call they should hang up and report the call to WPS immediately. By doing so, our employees can verify the status of a customers account and they can determine if one of (WPS) employees have tried to contact them..."
Cullen says the scammers will be very aggressive and threatening in their approach...
"...Our customers should know our employees do not solicit payments in a threatening manner. We never require our customers to pay their utility or energy bill using a pre-paid debit or credit card. That's another sign of this scam that has occured over the last couple of days. There have been instances in which customers have been told to purchase those pre-paid cards to pay the scammer. That is one warning sign we want to make sure our customers are aware of..."
Cullen says the best thing thing to do is hang up the phone and contact Wisconsin Public Service.
