SUMNER, Wash. — Mignon’s Café got a call last week that immediately created concern.
“They said they were Puget Sound Energy, and that they needed us to pay $3,000 by the end of day to prevent cut off of service over the weekend,” said owner Mignon Sutherland-Sauve.
The weekend is when the café makes most of its money, so her husband got worried. He bought prepaid cash cards and sent the scammers $994.
He said the scam seemed legitimate because when he called back, the phone tree created by the con-artists was identical to PSE’s phone tree.
Mignon’s Café’s power stayed on over the weekend. However, the scammers called again Monday asking for more money. This time the owners went down to a PSE office, and soon realized they had been taken.
They said it came at a terrible time, with a tax bill due and payroll coming up.
“Payroll has to go through obviously, people’s families depend on me,” the owner said. “The IRS is going to have to be a week late. There will be penalties, but it’s the best we can do.”
A spokesman for PSE said the very convincing phone scam has targeted a number of small businesses lately and even residential homes across multiple power companies. He said more sophisticated versions of the scam actually make the caller ID appear legitimate.
The spokesman suggested always dialing the number on the bill if the circumstances are suspicious.
Here are more PSE recommendations on avoiding scams: