Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell is warning state residents about a phone scam targeting electric power customers in which callers threaten to shut off customers' power if money is not sent immediately.
Sorrell says the calls are not coming from a utility even though caller identification may show the same or similar number as a power company.
He advises Vermonters who receive such calls to hang up. He urges customers to check with their customer service department of their electric company to check on such claims.
He says the scam appears to be using a Voice Over Internet Protocol telephone service to place calls over an internet connection. This allows the scammers to mask the callers' location and software allowing them to "spoof" the caller ID system.
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