Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office has recently received reports from citizens of calls they’ve received from a person claiming to represent a bill collection firm who is collecting on behalf of either Beltrami Electric or Ottertail Power Company.
The caller claims the victim has an outstanding power bill and if the victim does not immediately pay the bill, the company will shut off their power. The victim is told they cannot call the power company to verify the bill. The victim is instructed to go to Walgreens or Walmart and purchase a Green-Dot Pre-paid Credit card. Then they are to call the number 1-800-692-1143 (Ext 14) and provide them with the credit card number to pay their bill. Once that is done the threat of having their power disconnected is lifted.
This is another scam. Neither power company uses this method to collect past due bills. If you receive a call like this you can be sure it is a scam. Do not give any credit or personal information to anyone who calls you asking for this type of information and do not give them any money or make any purchases of credit cards for them.
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Call and report these scams to the power company in question and please feel free to contact the Beltrami County Sheriff’s office at 218-333-9111 .
