Update below:
Ms. Char owns a business in Rhinelander. Recently she fell for a scam where a person on the telephone pretended...in a very convincing manner...to be from Wisconsin Public Service. The caller said her bill was overdue and unless she paid within the hour, her power would be disconnected.
She tells her story...
Ms. Char owns Stress Recess. While the money is gone, she says she learned much about how scammers operate.
WPS spokesperson Matt Cullen says if someone calls you about your bill, hang up and contact WPS directly before taking any action.
UPDATE:(10/3/2017) Cullen updated WXPR via email about phone calls:
"There’s a sentence in the story that says that customers who are contacted about their bills should hang up and call WPS immediately. This is true if the customer believes the call is suspicious. However, there are circumstances in which our customer service employees will call customers about the status of their account. However, legitimate WPS employees do not threaten our customers with disconnection in a short time frame (such as an hour or less), and never require customers to pay their bill using a prepaid card."
Consumer experts say legitimate businesses do not contact customers in this manner and is almost always a scam.
