The Lake Havasu City Police Department would like to make the community aware of two recent local scams that have been reported.   

In one of the scams, the caller appears to be targeting local businesses and identifies themselves as a representative of UniSource.  The caller indicates that there was a problem with their account and the bill has not been paid or there was a problem processing the payment.  The caller warns the customer that their electricity will be turned off unless the bill is paid immediately.  The caller offers to take payment over the phone if the business will provide their account information or the caller will offer to take payment via a charge or gift card of some sort.  In some cases, a message has been left with a call back number.  The call back number has a recording that does say, “You have reached UniSource.”  If you do receive one of these calls and suspect a possible scam, call the phone number that appears on your statement and do not assume the call back number left is actually UniSource. 

In one of the other scams, the caller identification number appears to show up as the Police Department phone number of 928-855-1171.   A message is generally not left, however if contact is made, there have been a few cases where the unknown caller indicates that there was a problem with a bond and they will need to transfer a sum of money to an account.   This is a scam.

A scam tactic called “spoofing” is used by scammers to make the caller identification appear to be a local number or perhaps even the Police Department.    If you did not initiate the phone call, be hesitant and use caution with any information you provide to the caller. 

The Lake Havasu City Police Department encourages the community to report these types of fraudulent calls and be aware that scammers are constantly devising new schemes in an attempt to get your money.  Do not provide your address, phone number, banking, credit card, social security number or any other personal information to anyone that calls you unsolicited.   Additional consumer tips of things you can do to avoid becoming a victim and find out about current scams can be found at the Federal Trade Commission’s website www.consumer.ftc.gov/scam-alerts.

Public Information Officer:  Sergeant Tom Gray (928) 855-1171