A local business owner has a warning about a scam that targeted his business.
Malcolm Deshields owns The Barbecue Man restaurant on Interstate 37.
His employees got a call yesterday from someone claiming to be with the AEP.
The caller said they hadn’t paid their electricity bill and if they didn’t come up with nearly $1,000 in 45 minutes, his service would be cut off.
Deshields says he knew it was a scam but he called them back anyway.
“They wanted me to go buy these pre-paid cards, obtain those and then come back to the restaurant, call them, and give them the codes off of those cards and that would satisfy the debt that i had to them, which in all reality is non-existent,” he said.
Here’s the biggest clue that this is a scam.
You don’t pay your electricity bill to AEP.
You pay it to whoever your carrier is.
By the way, Deshields reported the incident to AEP.
