Spanish-Speaking, Elderly Targeted By Phone Scam

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Spanish-speaking residents and the elderly are once again being targeted by phone scammers posing as Nashville Electric Service (NES) employees. The Spanish-speaking scammers are calling customers to tell them to make a payment or their service will be disconnected. Customers are instructed to go to Wal-Mart to purchase a prepaid debit card so payment can be made over the phone. The scammer then calls the customer back to process the payment. The spammers are spoofing NES outage and customer service phone numbers so that customers who have Caller ID will see the number and think the call is legitimate. These scammers have made false claims including: Your meter is not working properly. You need to pay a fee to have the meter replaced. Your home has a short circuit and you will lose power if you dont pay immediately over the phone. NES has received several reports from customers that have been targeted by this scam, said Teresa Corlew, NES VP & Chief Customer Care Officer. We urge our customers to be leery of anyone posing as an NES employee asking for immediate payment. NES employees never call customers requesting personal information such as bank account numbers. Customers who have doubts about the legitimacy of a call should contact NES Customer Relations directly at (615) 736-6900, even if the number displayed on their phones is the utilitys phone number. Nashville Electric Service is one of the 12 largest public electric utilities in the nation, distributing energy to more than 360,000 customers in Middle Tennessee. For more information about NES, visit www.nespower.com.