The San Luis Police Department is warning the community about numerous fraudulent telephone calls that were made and reported throughout the month of October 2017. There were over six cases reported to the SLPD.
One resident of San Luis, AZ reported that a caller that identified herself as an APS representative informed her that she needed to pay $1,360.00 or her electricity service would be suspended. The resident also reported that the caller told her that there was a crew en route to her residence to cancel her electricity service unless she bought two “Green Dot/Money Pak cards” (pre-paid cards) with the $1,360.00.
The San Luis resident said she thought the phone call was strange; therefore, contacted APS and found out that she had no outstanding electricity bills. Furthermore, she was told by an actual APS representative that no one had contacted her from APS about any outstanding bills. Unfortunately, the money from the cards had already been withdrawn. The number that appeared in the caller ID had a prefix of 333-XXX-XXXX.
On previous incidents, IRS scams also happened where supposedly an IRS agent was requesting payment for overdue taxes. If the money is not paid immediately, victims are told they will be arrested. Those IRS scam calls usually request the payment either on prepaid cards or wire transfers.
SLPD is asking citizens to not disclose any personal information if they suspect the call to be suspicious. It is also being asked that citizens make every attempt possible to contact family members first to know about their whereabouts instead of wiring or sending money out.
