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Scam Targets IREA Customers In Douglas County

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- Hoping to scare property owners away with the threat of no power, a new scam is underway in Douglas County. A caller tells the homeowner they have to leave their house for three days because of important utility work.

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"Right now we're in the process of replacing about 160,000 meters throughout our service territory," said Josh Liss, a spokesman for the Intermountain Rural Electric Association. "In most cases people won't even have their power interrupted when we swap out the meters. And, if they do have an interruption it will be a few minutes, not hours certainly."

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Last week a few customers contacted IREA about scam calls they had received.

"They had been contacted by somebody who claimed to be from IREA and wanted them to know that they were going to be without power for up to 72 hours because of the metering install," Liss said about the scam.

It's believed the scammers were trying to get property owners out, so they could be robbed without anyone home. So far, it's not believed any thieves have struck using this tactic. IREA says both homes and commercial properties have been targeted.

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"Everyone needs power right? So, these people are targeting people who are customers of a utility, threatening them to not have power and making them think they don't need to be home or their place of business presumably so they can take advantage of that," Liss said.

IREA has been sending postcards to the customers to inform them about the meter exchange and have been leaving placards on doors. IREA is not calling people about the change and power is rarely shut off.

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"Whenever in doubt we encourage people to call us. Fortunately, it hasn't worked so far but we want to get the word out to our customers," Liss said.

IREA is hoping other people targeted by this scam will contact them at (800) 332-9540.

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