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Scam alert: Fake Central Maine Power workers are trying to get into homes, businesses

By Adam Bartow

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    FALMOUTH, Maine (WMTW) — Police and Central Maine Power (CMP) are warning Mainers of a new scam where people pretending to work for the power company are going to commercial and residential buildings and trying to get inside. Police say this has been reported in several communities in Maine, including Falmouth.

CMP says it will never send an employee inside a home to use a computer or other device they didn’t bring with them. Their employees will also never take a picture of your electric bill.

Other things CMP will never do:

Send an employee to your home to offer a discount, offer a cost-savings program or encourage you to sign up for a service Ask customers to make a payment with a pre-paid debit card or other non-refundable methods

Police say scammers are also spoofing numbers for phone calls and text messages.

Some specific types of scams to look out for include:

Disconnection threat: Someone posing as a utility representative aggressively telling a customer their account is past due and a crew is on the way to shut off service unless an immediate payment is made —typically using a prepaid debit card or another non-refundable form of payment Meter payment: The caller or in-person scammer instructs the customer to pay with cash or a prepaid debit card to cover the costs of a new meter or meter upgrade. Information request: The caller insists that a recent payment encountered a system glitch and was not completed, or that the company had not received the payment at all. The perpetrator then asks the customer to make a false payment using a prepaid debit card or by providing personal bank account information.

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