A phone scam has resurfaced in Kirksville. In the past several months the Kirksville Police Department has received reports of callers posing as Ameren Missouri representatives. The callers demand immediate payment due to outstanding payments, and threaten to cut the power unless a payment is made. The caller also may leave a voicemail.
According to Ameren spokesperson Brianne Vaught, people who respond to those messages reach a system that sounds like Ameren.
“They have mirrored our voice recording system so it sounds like you are calling Ameren, but in reality you are not,” she said. “We always want to make payment arraignments and we are always trying to help the customer. We’re not demanding payment.”
Steve Farnsworth, Deputy Chief of the Kirksville Police Department, said there are several tells that a call is a scam.
“You really can locate exactly where they are coming from,” he said. “It is usually somewhere out of state.”
Farnsworth said the police department is working to inform people the scams are happening and stop them.
“We do some background work and try to locate where calls are coming from or where people are sending money,” Farnsworth said.
The scam usually occurs during peak hours, and is geared toward businesses, but has also been directed at residencies.
“A majority of the time it’s intended for business customers, but we have seen it in residences,” Vaught said.
