June 8, 2022 – Illinois residents have been receiving calls from scammers posing as Ameren. The scam aims to trick residents and business owners into paying $1,500. The regional manager of an oil change company in Peoria said he was almost tricked into paying the scammers.
Daniel Wilson, regional manager of Big Ray’s Oil Change, said he received a call from a supposed Ameren employee demanding payment for late bills.
Maria Gomez, a corporate security supervisor at Ameren, said the company has received more than 100 scam reports in the last week alone.
Gomez said the first clue that it’s a scam: demanding immediate payment in a specific way.
“We’re definitely we’re never going to ask somebody to download an app on the spot, or get Bitcoin, or to pay for a meter up front,” she said.
If you think you have been scammed, call the police and stop payment at the bank. It’s also a good idea to report the scam directly to Ameren.
“Because we do keep track of it, we’d like to keep track of the latest trends so we can warn people,” said Gomez.
